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THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


■4 



Its Rise From Pagan Sources, its Early Persecutions, its Later Plots 
AND Conspiracies, and its Present Frauds, Crimes and Dangers 
IN THE United States. 


With a Broad, Fair and Full Treatment of Papal Intrigues and Cor- 
ruptions IN Public Affairs, and Bearing Upon Free Institutions 
in Our Country. 


BY SCOTT F. HERSHEY, Ph. D. 


<1 



iJUSTUJN ; 

BACK BAY BOOK CO. 
1895. 



‘t 

.■1 



f 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the 
BY REV. SCOTT F. HERSHEY, PI 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at V 


CONTENTS 


PART I. 

The World Still has Papacy to Contend With — Civilization yet 
Assailed by Jesuit Conspiracies — The Rise of Liberty — Free In- 
stitutions Impeded by the Papacy — The Roman Catholic Hierarchy 
in Opposition to Freedom — Pagan and Papal Romanism — Charac- 
ter of the Roman Papacy — The Source and Course of Papal Perse- 
cutions — Fair Little Piedmont and its Touching Story — Difference 
Between Pagan and Papal Persecutions — Piedmont’s Apostolic Re- 
ligion, and its Independence of the Bishop of Rome — Paganism 
the Chief Source of Papal Forms — Gregory I., and the Beginning 
of the Papal Claims — A Religion Pure as Protestantism — The 
Brightness of the Dawn, and the Awfulness of the Conflict — Perse- 
cution of Peter Waldo — Dominic, the Founder of the Dominicans — 
A Synod Orders the Confiscation of Property — Inquisitorial Tor- 
ture the Object of the Dominicans — Ten Persecutions and Twenty 
to Follow — A Dreadful Picture, but True — The Church Levies Tax 
on France — Smoking Them Out — General Confiscation — Catholics 
Exempt from Keeping Contracts — Cruel Exile in Mid- winter — Pied- 
mont’s Warning to America — Murderous Assault a Century Ago — 
Proscriptive Laws of the Papacy — An Heroic Type of People — 
Most Intellectual People in Europe — One of Napoleon’s Last Dis- 
patches — Why the Popes Persecuted — Piedmont’s Devotion to the 
Bible — A Sixteenth Century Picture — Their Table of Morals — Sub- 
lime Passage from a Piedmont Hymn — Value of Piedmont’s Testi - 
mony Against Papacy — Piedmont’s Contribution to Liberty. 

(iii) 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


PART II. 

England’s Shame and Fame — The Pope Corrupting the Ballot Box 
— A Scene of the Eighth Century — Great Influence of the First En- 
glish Bible — The Night About to Break — The Ferments of the Four- 
teenth Century — The Plague of Low Monkery — One-Half the Land 
Held by the Church — Public Money Feeds the Church — The Popes 
Engaged in Systematized Robbery — A Shameful Surrender of Rights 
— AYhy the Papacy Claims Ireland — Rome Overreaching Herself — 
Good Result of the Piedmont Dispersion — A Common Game of Pa- 
pal Hypocrisy — Two Popes at One Time — New Papal Demand on 
England — A Morning Star of the Reformation — Mental and Moral 
Influence of Country Scenes — Deformed and Dwarfed Specimens of 
Protestantism — The Great Conflipt in Parliament — The Great Peti- 
tion Before Parliament — First Attempt at the Separation of Church 
and State — Attempt with us to Reunite Church and State — Wyclif’s 
Way for Circulating the Bible — His Greatest Work — “A Glory 
Gilds the Sacred Page” — Before the Age of Printing — Power of the 
Bible in English Civilization — Influence of Bacon’s Philosophy — The 
Highway of Progress — The Bible in Benevolence and Art — Rome’s 
Treatment of the Bible — Condemned by Councils and Popes — An 
Order Against Liberty — Opposition to the Bible in Spain and France 
— The Bible and the Popes out of Agreement — Roman Minority in 
English-Speaking W orld. 


CONTEIs'TS. 


V 


PART III. 

Side Lights on America — A Chivalric Story — Cradle of the Ref or. 
mation on the Continent — The Ties Which Bound England and 
Bohemia — Mighty Prague on the Elbe — Influence of Wyclif’s Books 
— Low Moral Standard of Romish Clergy — A Worse Condition in 
the Fifteenth Century — Two Popes at War With Each Other — Pe- 
trarch’s Crushing Testimony — A Council Forced to Attempt Reform 
— Bohemian Church not of Roman Origin — The Papal Policy of 
Colonizing Foreigners — The Papal Spirit vs. the National Spirit — 
Archbishop Ireland’s High Act of Hypocrisy — The Hidden Hand> 
but Mighty — Men for the Times — The Coming of the Storm — Burn- 
ing Two Hundred Books — The Bold Charge of Huss — Huss is Ex- 
communicated — Charge of the Archbishop of Genoa — Shameful Per- 
fidy of Pope and Emperor — The Martyrdom of Huss — The Burning 
of Jerome of Prague — Incarnated Malice — The Popes Resort to 
Arms — The Second Bohemian Uprising — Why the Popes Fought 
Bohemia — A Warning to the United States — Danger of Priestly 
Power — Fame and Faithfulness — The Eifort to Find Supreme Au- 
thority — The Bible and Patriotism — Roman Catholic Opinions. 


CONTENTS. 


Yi 


PART IV. 

Rome’s Pursuit of Luther — Why the Middle Ages Were the Dark 
Ages — Notorious Debauchery of the Clergy — The Popes Condemned 
— Bishops and Cardinals Equally Corrupt — The Reason and Evil of 
Pilgrimages — Buying His W ay to the Pontifical Chair — A Game at 
Poison — Papal Infiuence a Fact in the United States — The Advent 
of a Leader — How Great Men are Linked Together — Greatness 
Cradled by Poverty — Twenty Years Old Before He Saw a Bible — 
Buffoonery in the Pope’s Palace — Luther’s Great Yow — His Great 
Indictment — The Coming of the Avalanche — The Pope can Deprive 
Roman Catholics of Property — The Plot to try Him in Rome — 
The Dangers Which Beset Luther — The Curse of Foreign Rule — 
An Additional Blow to the Papacy — Rome’s Battery of Lies — 
Rome’s Opposition to Free Speech — Rome’s Influence in Elections 
— A Truthful but Terrible Charge — Luther in the Hour of the Crisis 
— Value of Papal Promises — Roman Councils Above the Scriptures 
— A Knight of Wartburg — The Escaped Nuns. 


CONTENTS. 


vii 


PART V. 

The First Great Protestant Nation — The Most Gigantic Scheme 
for Making Money — What Awakened the Lion in Luther — Origin 
of Indulgences — Song of the Popes — Pagan Origin of Purgatory — 
An Old Book on Indulgences — Form of Indulgence Certificate — 
Scale of Prices From an Old Book — Capturing a Ship Load of 
Indulgences — Purpose of the Roman Church in Our Land — Stupen- 
dous Demagoguery — Disreputable Lives of Papal Agents — Tetzel’s 
Grave- Yard Tale — The Trap Tetzel Fell Into — If for Money, Why 
Not for Charity — Indulgence Certificates Used as Money — Arch- 
bishop Does a Banking Business — Still Running As a Money Scheme 
— Mountebank Financiering — How the Priests Dupe the Irish — 
The Pope a Gambler — Low Condition of the Irish, Chargeable to 
the Papacy — Procuring Money Under False Pretences — Indulgences 
Sold in the United States — A Horrible Doctrine — Blasphemous 
Utterance of the Present Pope — Political Side of This Doctrine — 
Romish Riot Against Free Speech — Effect of Indulgences on 
Crime. 


CONTENTS. 


viii 


PART VL 

The Greatness of Little Countries — The Largest Contributions to* 
Liberty, Education and Morality — Switzerland the Picturesque — 
Switzerland’s Language to America — The Birthplace of a Patriot — 
How a Patriot is Made — How a Great Man is Made — Power of the 
Bible in Civilization — A Great Patriot Orator — A Specimen of 
Papal Knavery — Virgin Shrines are Papal Frauds — This Humbug 
Found in the United States — A Sermon Talked About Over 
Europe — A Fatal Blow to the Papacy — Another Mighty Sermon — 
Power of Patriotic Hymns — The Need of Patriotic Songs — Polit- 
ical Reform a Patriotic Work — How Liberty and Education Were 
Lost — The Irish Once a Great People — Switzerland a Vassal of 
Rome — An Abominable Evil — An Old Trick of Popes — Lazy Nuns 
and Monks — Religious and Political Reforms Move Together — The 
Battle Capped — Papal Treaties Are a Papal Ruse — Death of the 
Great Zwingli — Difference Between a Roman Catholic and a Prot- 
estant Community. • 


CONTENTS. 


ix 


PART VII. 

The Wonderful Sixteenth Century — The Popes After the Purses 
of the People More than Their Hearts — Scheme of Pope and King — 
Extent of the W orship of Relics and Images — Papal Forces Which 
Ruin — Some Great Reformers — Three Powerful Families — A New 
Phase of Debauchery — Rise of the Jesuits in France — The Gibbons- 
Satolli-Leo XIII. Combination — The Pope Bribing the Army — 
What the French Leaders Lacked — Call for Stalwart Leaders in the 
United States — Papal Plots and Assassinations Through Four 
Reigns — The Wool-Carders of Meaux — Desolation Among Free 
Villages — A Shameful Chapter of Horrors — Can the Pope Permit 
Our Free Institutions — Every Bone Broken for Selling Books — ^At- 
tempt to Introduce the Inquisition — Did the Popes Plan the Mur- 
der of all European Protestants — The Papal War Upon Conscience 
and Liberty — Public Assembling Forbidden on Pain of Death — 
Papal Diplomats Are Oily — No Religious Liberty When Rome Has 
Power — Shall Roman Catholics go to Congress — The Papacy 
Beginning the Civil War — Rome Never Keeps Political Agreement 
■ — Serious Charge Against Rome in the United States — When Rome 
Talks of her Love for Freedom, Beware — Design of the Papal 
Party in France and in America. 


s 


CONTENTS. 


PART VIII. 

A Noble and Patriotic Race — Three Races of Heroic Grandeur 
— Why the Bloody Chapter Should Not be Lost — The Leading 
Kingdom in Europe — The Court a Pest-House of Evil Plotting — 
The Blackest Crime of the Papacy — The Most Ignoble Woman of 
All — A Queen Sacrificed to a Papal Scheme — How France Might 
Have Been Saved the Massacre of St. Bartholomew — Disloyal 
American Politicians — The Pope a Party to Crime — Murdered by 
a Papal Soldier — Papal Conspiracies With Us — Many Romish Plots 
in France — Most Evil Combination of All — Where the Bartholomew 
Massacre was Hatched — A Royal Wedding the Trap — The Hugue- 
not Leaders Enticed to the City — Playing a Desperate Hand — The 
King Decides on the Murder — Pre-Arrangements for the Massacre — 
The Tocsin of Death — Fate of Admiral Coligny — Most Inexcusable 
Butchery of Modern Times — The Bride’s Report of the Massacre — 
The King Confesses His Responsibility — Twenty Thousand 
Butchered by the Papacy — The King and His Conscience — Why 
Rome Killed the Huguenots — High Joy of the Catholics at the 
Crime — Silent Rebuke of England’s Queen — Professions of Papal 
Leaders Insincere — A Religious Farce and Political Blunder — 
Conspiracy of the Jesuits — Papal King, Ambitious Women and 
Crafty Jesuits — Religious Liberty All Lost — Huguenot Leaven in 
the United States. 


CONTENTS. 


xi 


PART IX., 

Origin of the Knights Templars — High Character of the Order 
— Diabolical Charge Brought Against Them — Instance of Papal 
Treachery — Tortures of the Knights — Suppression and Confiscation. 


PART X. 

Children as High Church Ofiicials — How a Healthy Reformation 
is Produced — Kovel Plan of Fratfcis I. — Rise of the Genevan Re- 
public — Origin of Our Public School System — Civil Liberties Guar- 
anteed — Religious Influence of Genevan Liberty — Testimony of 
Great Men — Influence on American Institutions — Religion Should 
Conserve, Kot Subvert, Civil Liberty — Roman Priests and Kuns 
Kot Subject to Our Laws — Religion Should Promote, Not Retard 
Intelligence — Papal Hindrance to Education — Roman Catholic 
Illiteracy in the United States. 


xii 


CONTENTS. 


PART XL 

A Race of Freemen and Heroes — The Papacy Disputed in the 
Eleventh Century — The Birth Century of Great Ideas— Most Burn- 
ing Question in Europe — Remarkable Progress of the Dutch — The 
Greatness of Antwerp — Fell Tinder a Romish War — Why Indulg- 
ences Failed — Advent of the Barbarous Inquisition — Its Original 
Intention — Four Millions Suffered in Spain — The Church Still Main- 
tains It — Charles V., Heir to Half the Thrones in the World — 
Setting Up the Inquisition — Papal Conquests on the American 
Continent — A Female Beast Made Regent — Too Brave for Caesars 
and Popes — Martyr Fires Never Die Out — ‘‘ The Court of Blood” 
— A Page From the “Black Book” — Now Comes William of 
Orange — Learning Papal Secrets — The Night Vow in the Silent 
Forests of Vincennes — Attempt to Bribe Him — An Infamous Horde 
in the United States — Infamous Deception — God Alone With Him 
— ^Plots to Assassinate — The Pope Accessory to Murder — Scheme 
to Murder the English Queen — Successful Appeal to Patriots — 
The Wild Corsairs of the Sea — A Patriot’s Last Resolve — Now 
Comes the Turn — Sublime Act of Tolerance — How News of Barthol- 
omew Was Received — Awful Scene of Papal Cruelty — Alva’s 
Savage Boast— The Dutch Sea Rovers — A Sight of Moral Grandeur 
— Attempt at Bribery — The Brave Prince Assassinated — Divine 
Right of Kings and Popes Surrendered, 


CONTENTS. 


xiii 


PART XII. 

Most Beautiful Woman of the Sixteenth Century — Helps of 
Powerful Preachers — The Aid of Education — A Small Country, 
but Great — Greatest Things in the Scotch Conflict — Wheeling a 
Nation Into Line — The Greatest Power in War With Rome — 
The Greatest Need in the United States — Papal Clergy Filling 
the Public Offices — Imprisonment and Confiscation — Will Such 
Things Occur in the United States — The Church Selects the King’s 
Wife — A Notorious Papal Family — The Priesthood an Obstruction 
in the Way of Education — Ignorance of the Priesthood — The 
Bishops not Able to Preach — One-Half the Wealth Held by Priests 
— Monks a Trifling and Worthless Set — Monasteries Temples of 
Debauchery — The Day When Scotch Independence Was Born — 
The Qualities of Five Men in One — Six Men of Unparalleled Great- 
ness — Public Reward Offered for Murder — Startling Scene in the 
Queen’s Chamber — Deepest Plot of the Sixteenth Century — Who 
Invented the Conspiracy — Who Knew of It — What It Involved — 
Deception of Mary of Guise-Lorraine — The Mask Thrown Off — 
Popery Turned Out of Doors — The Queen Regent a Minion of the 
Papal Court — Mary the Beautiful on the Throne — Treachery of the 
Queen — The Papal League Extended to Scotland — Murder of Lord 
Darnley — The Queen Resigns — Earl of Murray Regent — Why the 
Archbishop Wanted Him Assassinated — Priests Instigate Rebellion 
— What Led to the Queen’s Death — Damaging Jesuit Authority — 
According to Papal Morals Murder is Right — The Spanish Armada 
— ^The Crisis of the Whole Conflict Had Come — Declared Intention 
of the Expedition — How the King Regarded the Defeat — New 
Jesuit Plot — Civil War Comes From Papal Intrigue — Jesuits 
Declared Traitors — Papacy Permanently Overthrown — Our Civil 
and Religious Liberties Advanced. 


:s::y 


CONTENTS. 


PART XIII. 

• 

Plots to Murder — Conspiracies Against England — Papal W oman- 
hood — Roman Diplomacy and Royal Marriages — The Archbishop 
Presents a Forged Will — First Duty of Patriotism With Us — A 
Visit to the Apartments of Mary Stuart — An Age of French 
Debauchery — Married to an Imbecile — Infamous Crime Exacted — 
Sad Result of Papal Intermeddling — The Queen Confesses Papal 
Power over Her — Danger From Roman Catholic Rule — Famous 
Jesuit Interview — Cause of the Queen’s Bigotry — Civil War 
Provoked — A Confederation to Overthrow Liberties — Victim of the 
Archbishop — Jesuit Proofs — The Ridolfi Conspiracy — Confessions^ 
of a Roman Catholic Conspirator — Sad Execution of the Queen — 
Jesuit Papers Found By Froude — Papal Influences On the Queen — 
Victim and Tool of the Papacy — Papacy the Enemy of Woman — 
Evils of Confessional and Celibate Priesthood — Fame and Infamy 
of Papal Women — How the Papacy Secured Temporal Dominiona 
— The Bigoted Isabella — A Far-Famed Papal Woman — ‘‘Bloody 
Mary” of England — Convnnt and Cloister Women of France — 
Eugenie Brings War to France — Attempt of Papal Government 
in Mexico — Papal Law Declares W omen Inconstant — Pagan Idea 
of Women is Held — Names Impossible in the Papal Church. 


INTRODUCTION. 


'No question now before the American people, or which 
has been before them since the issues connected with the 
Revolutionary War, and the formation of the Republic 
under the Constitution, not even the perplexing issues of 
the late war, and those grave matters which disturbed our 
internal peace during the reconstruction period, are, or were, 
either in nature or degree, so serious in character, so im- 
portant to clearly understand, or so difficult to adjust, as 
that of the Roman Papacy. The secret and unprincipled 
way in which the Roman hierarchy have worked their way 
into the control of most all the large city governments in 
the north, the public schools in towns and cities, the state 
legislatures, and of recent years the congress of the United 
States, the departmental branches of the government at 
Washington, and even the judicial branch ; the torrent of 
abuse they pour upon every one who raises a voice against 
this ecclesiastical favoritism ; their demand for public 
money for Roman Catholic institutions ; the alarmingly 
large contribution of this Church to our pauper and crim- 
inal classes, entailing a grievous burden upon the general 
public to support the errors and failures of life directly pro- 
duced by and traceable to their ecclesiastical system ; the 
preservation in our country of such Spanish and mediaeval in- 
stitutions as that of the conventicle prison, in daily viola- 
tion of constitutional and statutory law ; the continuance 
in our southwest of the barbarous and heathenish practices 

(xv) 


xvi 


INTRODUCTION. 


of the Koman Catholic penitentes^ a relic of Mexican Ro- 
manism, spread over a half dozen states and territories, and 
which often result in crimes which should be punished as 
murder ; the vast and rapidly growing and exceedingly 
dangerous money power, by which it is easy for an arch- 
bishop to turn a half million dollars into the election of a 
single state to help Roman interests in the American Repub- 
lic ; the enormous accumulation of property held independ- 
ent of the rights of taxation, amounting in Washington 
city to more than twelve million, or three times as much as 
all the Protestant holdings together, in which is a political 
inequality of stupendous extent ; the criminal effort to de- 
range all the facts of the past in our history and literature, 
until we have a generation of Americans mostly without 
any historical knowledge of the past evils of Romanism, and 
hence incompetent to judge or deal with its present evils; 
the priestly domination of the daily press to an extent that 
reliable news are withheld, so the people have been dealing 
with professions, rather than facts and conditions ; the 
presence at our national seat of government of an accredited 
representative of the Pope, taking a hand in our public 
affairs, and in all probability a Jesuit diplomat e ; the start- 
ling fact that every country in the world has banished the 
Jesuits, who have been flocking to our land, until there are, 
in the opinion of the Author, more Jesuits in Washington 
city than any other capital city in the world. 

These are the plainly shown and stupendous facts which 
have made the condition which is before us. The settle- 
ment of this condition, and it is a religio-political one, con- 
fronts the true and patriotic citizenship of the land. This 
settlement involves such considerations as, the American 
Constitutional idea of Sovereignty in conflict with the Papal 
idea of Sovereignty ; the danger of relieving Roman Oath- 


INTRODUCTION. 


xvii 


olio ecclesiastics from the authority of civil forms ; the evi- 
dent conflict between Canon Law and Civil ; the continu- 
ance of Jesuit conspiracies, or the expulsion of the order 
from the country ; some limitation of the dangerous money 
power of the Roman Catholic Church, which in every coun- 
try has proven an intolerable woe ; the civil inspection of all 
convents ; the taxation of all property held by ecclesiastical 
bodies, or officials, except the building devoted to Sabbath 
worship ; the more complete and assured separation of 
Church and State ; the prevention of ecclesiastical use of 
public monies ; the preservation of our Public School sys- 
tem from its Roman and foreign foes; the elevation, by 
legislative enactment, of our general standard of intelli- 
gence ; an effectual embargo placed upon excessive Roman 
Catholic pauper, ignorant and degraded immigration ; the 
recovery of municipal government from ecclesiastical domi- 
nation, and last, the retirement of Satolli from our shores. 

Without the solution of these problems there can be no 
such a thing as a preservation of our liberties, a continuance 
of our free institutions, and a steady advance of intelligent 
citizenship. The influence of uncontrolled Roman Cath- 
olic power, is that of a retrograde movement in civilization. 
It impedes science and philosophy, corrupts statecraft and 
diplomacy, makes education narrow and intolerant, and is 
all the while delivering to General Progress the order to 
countermarch. Ultimate America cannot be a triumph in 
civilization wflth the Roman Papacy an active factor. 

We have no desire to be intolerant with the religious 
rights of the Roman Catholic Church. We should be just 
as ready to champion our Roman Catholic fellow citizens in 
the enjoyment of all these religious rights, privileges and 
opportunities, which belong to them under the Constitution, 


xviii 


INTRODUCTION. 


as we are ready to defend the rights of Protestants. It is 
our privilege, and we hold it to be our duty, to expose the 
religious frauds and errors of the Eoman Church ; but we 
would not by civil restraint debar them from the free exer- 
cise of their religion. It is the political intrusion of that 
Church in our public affairs that we do, and must continue, 
to oppose. Here there can be no surrender, truce or com- 
promise. 

These grave matters cannot be turned over to political 
leaders for adjustment. Our leading public men have 
known the political dangers from this source all the while, 
and have remained silent. They have seen, as we could 
not, the growing threat to our Free Institutions and our 
laws, and they have not spoken a word for their country. 
The most of our public men, in state and national affairs, 
have been taking silent observations of growing treason. 
There have been a few exceptions, so noble they almost 
deserve mention in this work, and so exceptional as to 
make it a humiliation to our country. 'No more, can this 
adjustment of Papal evils be left to that smaller class, to 
whom the more select title of statesmen is given by com- 
mon consent. The history of every uprising against the 
Papacy shows that these reforms never are begotten, and 
are rarely led, by those prominent in statecraft. These up- 
risings against the inexcusable outrages of the Papacy al- 
ways originate with, and are pushed into law by, the peo- 
ple themselves. 

The first move, in which all should be concerned and give 
aid, is that of a wide and general instruction of the people 
in the Origin, Spirit and Ways of the Papal government. 
There is little hope for a permanent reform, unless there be 
an intelligent understanding of many things about the 


INTEODUCTION. 


xix 


Papacy, which are not generally understood, and therefore 
are not much believed ; there can be no wise attempts 
at reform or correction without this. Much of the patri- 
otic fervor of the day will soon wane. This is seen by the 
Roman authorities and is greatly depended upon. Sponta- 
neity is no ground upon which to build up a lasting re- 
form. 

The motive of this book is found in the Author’s convic- 
tion of Roman perils in our land. The purpose of it is sev- 
eral fold: first, to show that the spirit and origin of the Ro- 
man Papacy were impressively and emphatically Pagan, 
and that the very kernel of Pagan despotism is the heart 
of the Roman Catholic hierarchical system; secondly, that 
to understand the Papacy in a way to intelligently deal 
with it in our day, it must be known in its spirit and 
method of Plots and Conspiracies in other days. The 
period mostly dwelt upon is that of the eventful Sixteenth 
Century, when she played her most daring deeds of des- 
peration. The high object, never lost sight of in the pages 
which follow, is to portray the conditions in our country 
for which Rome should be held answerable ; and withal, to 
present her appearance in all avenues of public life and 
civil affairs, as confirmatory of her unchanged and unre- 
lented heart. The course she is conducting in our political 
life is constantly kept in the front, while her infiuence for 
evil upon national life is shown with firmness. That the 
Papal teaching in our land is directly to be charged as an 
acting cause of crime, and as well political fraud, is abund- 
antly shown. 

The Author asks for a calm reading of the book, with the 
thought always borne in mind that if any error has inad- 
vertently crept into it, it is believed it will be found to be 


XX 


INTRODUCTION. 


an oversight, and of minor import, as a misplaced name or 
date. 

This book is placed in the hands of the great body of the 
true-hearted and whole-hearted American people, whom 
the Author loves, with the exhortation that they must con- 
tinue awake, and tell their children to slumber not. 

Scott F. Hershey. 

Boston^ May^ 1895. 


/ 


TO PIEDMONT. 


Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold : 

E’en them, who kept thy truth so pure of old, 

When all our fathers worshiped stocks and stones, 
Forget not : in thy book record the groans. 

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese rivers, that rolled 
Their wild waters down the rocks. Their moans 
The vales redoubled, they the hills, and they 
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 
O’er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
The Triple tyrant : but from these make grow 
An hundred-fold, who, having learnt thy way, 

Early may fly the Babylonian woe.” 


ARE ROMANISM AND PAGANISM AKIN? 


The Pope of Catholicism represents the high priest of 
Paganism. Nay, their very costumes are almost the same 
as to form and color. The Pagan Emperor Caligula in- 
vented the ceremony of having his feet kissed. The Pope 
offers his toe to be kissed. The statue of Diana wept, and 
so that of Apollo, at times of great calamity. The images 
of the Virgin shed tears at like times. It was the custom 
of the Pagan priests to light hundreds of wax candles be- 
fore their idols. Candles are lighted before the Virgin and 
the saints. In Pagan temples the sprinkling of holy water 
was customary. The first thing upon entering a koman 
Catholic Church is to dip the hand in holy water. Holy 
water was used among the Pagans for exorcism. , Holy 
water is used among the Romanists against the devil. 
Among the Greeks and Indians, you find a talisman hang- 
ing to the neck. Good Papists have omulets, rosaries, 
scapulars, and medals of the Virgin. The ancient Ro- 
mans had many thousands of gods. There are a hundred 
thousand gods in the Church of Rome ; that is to say, 
they have not less than a hundred thousand saints in the 
Church of Rome, and these saints are really in the place 
of the ancient gods of Paganism. 


Gavazzi. 


PART I. 


PIEDMONT’S UNEQUAL STRUGGLE WITH THE 
PAPACY. 

The world must still deal with the Papacy. Civilization 
is still confronted by perils, and assailed by conspiracies, 
which should have been dropped two centuries ago ; and on 
inquiry the discovery is made that the Roman Papacy is the 
instigator of the one and the designer of the other. The 
Pope is a despot in America in the nineteenth century, as 
he was in Europe in the sixteenth. Protestant civilization 
and Papal institutions are incompatible, and they confront 
each other as deadly foes. One or the other must go to the 
wall. 

The schools of the land, the business of the country and 
the government of the nation, cannot be administered with- 
out the interference of this foreign government, established 
on the Tiber. Private thought, public opinion and the 
daily press, are brought under coercion, until they make 
payment in submission. Liberty, in that broad, generous 
sense, in which it was devised by our fathers, and has been 
favored by Providence, is bending to the pressure of this 


4 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


ecclesiastical nightmare, and the signs are certain for abject 
slavery. 

No fear of the stigma of intolerance, no dread, lest the 
cry of religious unfairness be raised, should prevent Ameri- 
cans from doing their duty. It is not intolerance to demand 
from all a like submission to America’s laws ; nor is there 
any religious injustice in dealing with all religious organi- 
zations, in a just spirit of tolerance for religious rights, and 
a firm restriction upon all ecclesiastical infringement in 
affairs of state. To stand against the treason of a foe within, 
is a sign of patriotism as great as to resist the encroachments 
of a foe without. 

PAGAN AND PAPAL KOMANISM. 

Pagan Romanism was the most centralized political des- 
potism with which the ancient world was familiar ; Papal 
Romanism is the greatest and only universal despotism the 
modern world has known. Papal Romanism is only a 
changed, and not very greatly improved, Pagan Romanism. 
The ancient world had to destroy Pagan Romanism ; the 
modern world must overthrow the despotism of Papal Ro- 
manism. Pagan Romanism stood an impediment in the 
road of general progress ; Papal Romanism is known of all 
intelligent men and women to be the most unbending ob- 
struction in the path of social, intellectual and moral ad- 
vancement. 

This confiict between Protestant civilization and political 
Romanism not only involves our political rights, but deeply 
concerns our religious liberty and institutions. It is not a 
problem of society only, but a question for religious discus- 
sion as well. Legislation must take a hand, to preserve the 
integrity of our system of laws ; but as well, the Protestant. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


5 


pulpit must lift a voice, in order that the principles involved 
be clearly defined, and public sentiment be justly led. In 
a spirit of charity unimpeachable, but with a voice of thun- 
der that rolls over the continent, let it be declared that 
Protestantism is in accord with the highest possible civiliza- 
tion, and is the best possible promoter thereof; whilst Roman 
Papacy is wholly out of allignment with the general pro- 
gress of our civilization, and is its most bitter enemy. 

The Roman Catholic Church has given no trustworthy 
sign of any disposition to befriend human liberty or free 
institutions. Under the same sense of power, what it was 
yesterday, it would be to-day, and it must be to-morrow. 
There is not one satisfactory symptom of any favorable 
change in the Papacy. Roman Catholic authorities are the 
hardest witnesses against that Church. From themselves 
we have the well authenticated avowal that the fundamental 
spirit of the Church is not going to be changed. From his- 
tory we learn what that Church has been. Bring these 
facts to confront each other, and we have the certain pur- 
pose of this political Church in this land. 

CHARACTER OF THE ROMAN PAPACY. 

We are to judge the present and anticipate the future by 
anderstanding the past. As we see how the Roman Papacy 
dealt with civil and religious liberty in the past, we shall 
be able to judge how this precious boon of Protestantism 
will fare at the hands of that same Papacy now. We are 
about to walk down the most troubled paths, look upon 
some of the greatest wrongs, and witness not a few of the 
most dreadful outrages uncovered by the page of reliable 
history. Only one intent is in view. The generations 
must not close their eyes in fancied security while Papacy is 


6 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY, 


in the world. From the plentiful testimony of many cen« 
turies, and many countries, we shall construct an argument 
unassailable and unanswerable. By this argument it shall 
be seen that liberty never found a champion, or humanity a 
friend in the Papacy ; while the great moral and intellectu- 
al interests of the race have found in it a depressing and 
discouraging force, impeding their way. 

The struggle for civil and religious rights, under the 
charter of the New Testament teachings, began early in the 
Christian era. There was a little light even before the dawn. 
Those early rays, faint as they may appear at this distance, 
should not be lost to view. By their light are seen Rome’s 
first oppression, tyranny and persecution. “Remember 
the days of old,” is a Scriptural injunction, charging each 
rising generation of Christians to cherish in the memory a 
place for those who have suffered for a pure faith ; and to 
forget not how the walls of a sheltering Providence have 
been built about those who have fed their souls, and guided 
their lives, and shielded their hopes by the Word of God. 

THE SOURCE AND COURSE OF PAPAL PERSECUTION. 

Yes, the martyrs are still the seed of the Church and of 
liberty, too. And these martyrs were mostly made by 
Rome’s awful cruelties and vehement tyrannies. The per- 
secutions which God’s people have endured at the hand of 
Rome, chant in sad but triumphant strains of their adven- 
tures and courageous faithfulness in the ways of religion, 
and in striving for a few civil rights. The blood of the 
martyrs has placed the signet of its own royal purple on the 
chaste brow of Christianity, and rises from the ground to 
witness that the Papacy, in its earliest childhood, possessed 
those elements of Pagan corruption and those same savage 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


7 


cruelties, which later became worthy of the dungeons of 
the Inquisition. This cruel Pagan persecution, beginning 
within the Jerusalem walls, from whence better things might 
have been expected, is heard coming over the plains of 
Asia Minor, where the streams of western, eastern and south- 
ern civilizations, for thirty centuries, have met and surged 
into each other ; it is heard from the amphitheater of 
Pagan Rome, where the bodies of Christian saints were the 
daily food of wild beasts. 

And this far in history it was the persecution of Pagan 
Rome only. It was Paganism’s only answer to a pure faith! 
But soon this persecution came from an unexpected scource. 
As Papal Rome began to rise, through the ambition of the 
local bishop of Rome, she sought to force submission to her 
evil will, in an ever- widening circle. Then, (and here is an 
established fact in history,) the bishopric of Rome — there 
was no Pope as yet — incorporated as a part of its ecclesias- 
tical machinery the same persecution, so relentlessly prac- 
ticed, up to that time alone, by Paganism. And this perse- 
cution goes on, not by the Pagan world, but by the author- 
ity of the Church at Rome. It visits the little garden val- 
leys of the Italian Alps, whose soil for fifteen centuries was 
to be saturated with the blood of those who loved the Lord, 
and sought relief from the spiritual oppressions of ecclesias- 
tical Romanism. It is seen with awful fecundity of cruel- 
ty on the fertile fields of France, as devout Huguenots are 
cut down with the sword ; and anon from the fires of Smith- 
field is heard the wail of agony, as praying Protestants are 
led to the stake. It is hard to understand how such in- 
famous devices to produce pain in the human body could 
come into the mind, except upon the suggestion of still more 
infamous devils. The sunny hills of Italy; the historic 
glens of Caledonia ; the torture-prisons of Portugal ; the 


8 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


knife of the Spanish Inquisition ; the racks of Bohemia; 
the butcheries of the Netherlands, all bear witness to the 
heartless spirit of the old historic evil— the Roman Papacy. 
None the less, the history of Papal persecution brings to 
the light a masterly courage, triumphant faith, patient en- 
durance and conquering hope in those who, though small 
in numbers and humble in possessions, withstood the com- 
bined evil powers of acute bigotry, brutal cruelty and hell- 
ish malice. 

Right by her original threshold do we see Papal Rome’s 
first exercise in that oppression, for which she has since be- 
come world-famed. Wild and picturesque the country, 
romantic and tragic the history, and pious and heroic the 
people of a little community of Christians in the southern 
Alps, who have won for themselves a permanent fame in 
Christian history. In their course with Rome we shall see 
that in its very dawn Romanism adopted a policy which, 
by natural sequence, made it the unchangeable foe of civil 
and religious liberty. 

FAIR LITTLE PIEDMONT AND ITS TOUCHING STORY. 

Among the mountains of northern Italy there lies a little 
country, which has made a big place in the history of Chris- 
tianity. France lies on its west, Switzerland on its north, 
and the provinces of Lombardy and Liguria on the east and 
south. It forms the upper source of the river Po. On all 
sides, except those of the Lombardy plains, it is enclosed 
in a great semi-circle of the lower Alps. The mountains 
rise in uneven form, ’like the walls and minarets of some 
great cathedral of nature’s making. The mountain ranges 
are so interwoven and their fastnesses so intricate, that the 
country has never been familiar, except to those who have 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


9 


found there a Providential refuge through the centuries of 
persecution. The little valleys of the tributaries of the 
river Po have been fertile as virgin soil, and here in these 
garden spots the lemon, the orange, the olive, the date, the 
pomegranate and the most perfect fruit of the vine grow in 
the utmost profusion. 

The name of this small bit of country is Piedmont. 
Lombardy may have broader plains, and Campania deeper 
soil, but Piedmont has almost every variety of product of 
soil and beauty of landscape. With its gate opening 
eastward, from whence came its first light of the Gospel, its 
upper elevations overlook Italy and France, while itself 
is overlooked in the distance by the great towering form 
of the snow-mantled Mount Blanc, like some pure white 
hand raised against the northern sky in heavenly benedic- 
tion. 

The people of this fair section illustrate a rich promise. 
It is beyond dispute, that from the earliest existence of 
Christianity in Europe, it here maintained independence of 
Rome, preserved a similarity to the Apostolic Church, and 
kept up a continuity of evangelical faith. Once, amid the 
solitudes of Philippi, a most solemn promise was made 
touching the preservation of the Church : “ The gates of 

hell shall not prevail against it.” The promise was 
not, that the gates of hell should not fly open, and all the 
devils and furies of a maddened persecution set loose upon 
the children of the Lord. The promise was simply that the 
gates of hell should not prevail. That promise has been 
wondrously verified with the people of the Piedmont val- 
leys of Italy. No Christian people, who have preserved 
the purity of doctrine and simplicity of form which charac- 
terized the Apostolic Church, have had a history so glori- 
ous or so long and continuous. 


10 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


These people received the seeds of the Gospel early in the 
history of the Church. Already the churches of Thyatira 
and Pergamos were corrupt in doctrine, and were entering 
upon the period of decay, when this little country of north- 
ern Italy was being reached with the Gospel. Either 
Barnabas or some disciple of the apostles first carried the 
light of the cross to those people, whose hearts had a ready 
soil for spiritual seed. 

They have been known in history for centuries by the 
name of the Waldenses. But long before this distinct 
name attached to them, even in the first century, these val- 
leys echoed to the voice of Christian song. Almost im- 
mediately, the Gospel made the impression upon the people 
that it was a Scriptural knowledge that made a Christian 
life. 

Polycarp was martyred in the year sixty-five. Martianus 
became a martyr in these valleys in the year seventy-five. 
Then came the first persecution of Christians at Pome 
under I^’ero, and as it progressed with terrific fury, the peo- 
ple fied, for their faith as well as for their life, to the moun- 
tains of northern Italy ; while those who remained at Pome 
were bound to the stake, coated with tar and set on fire to 
illuminate the city ; or they were thrown to the half-starved 
beasts in the amphitheater. The few who escaped, and fied 
to the inaccessible valleys of the Alps, lived for a time in 
the peace and hope of the pure Gospel of J esus Christ. 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAGAN AND PAPAL PERSECUTIONS. 

Pagan persecution drove them to these mountain strong- 
holds and there left them. Let it be said to the greater 
shame of Papal persecution, that it pursued them into their 
exile, and visited upon them more hateful oppressions. Pa- 


THE BOM AH PAPACY. 


11 


pal Rome was worse than Pagan Rome. Pagan persecutions, 
at their worst, were never so diabolical as the Papal perse- 
cutions were to be in later centuries. The Papacy took the 
name without the heart of Christianity. That means that 
Papal Rome is Pagan Rome, plus the most stupendous 
hypocrisy and shameful greed. 

The storm became more furious still. Blandiana, a 
pious mother whose children were already slain, submitted 
to the grossest cruelties. After scourging, suffering expos- 
ure to the wild beast, and scorching in an iron chair, she was 
wrapped in a net and thrown to a wild bull, which tossed 
her on its horns. In the end she was beheaded, and it was 
said that never ainong them was a woman heard of who 
suffered so much amd so great torments. And so the entry 
is made in history, that these people had their faith cradled 
in persecutions and their Christian experience made strong 
in suffering. They were being prepared for great things. 

It appears that these little mountain valleys held a people 
who were never actually conquered by Rome. The Chris- 
tian heroes who fled from Rome to escape the Pagan perse- 
cutions, were welcomed and sheltered in these northern 
Italian defiles, by a people equally heroic with themselves. 
To which race they belonged is difficult to relate, nor is it 
of consequence here. In their brave hearts the Gospel took 
speedy growth. Their former independence of Pagan Rome 
well fitted them to stand firm against the encroachments of 
Papal Rome. 

While the Roman eagle swept over entire Europe, these 
people lived so quietly in this remote region that they 
were not brought to face the full brunt of the Roman army. 
The frequent, but comparatively small parties sent to sub- 
due them were more than matched. It is quite clear in 
history that after Gaul, Spain, Britain and all the Mediterra- 


12 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


nean coast had taken on the yoke of Rome this Piedmont 
race was free, and had not been subdued into a Roman 
province. When Rome fell in the fifth century, they 
were not much disturbed by the crash of the Empire. And 
at that date they were pure in religious life and faith ; while 
they appear to have been greatly devoted to the few simple 
laws and institutions of their country. They bore every 
symptom of being a patriotic and freedom-loving people. 
Their morals were elevated far above the prevailing type. 
For several centuries they belonged to the diocese of Milan, 
which extended over the whole of western Italy, and was 
independent of the bishop of Rome. 

piedmont’s apostolic eeligion and its independence 

OF THE BISHOP OF EOME. 

This portion of the Church was much purer, and more in- 
dependent in the fourth century, than that portion of the 
Church presided over by the bishop of Rome. The bishop 
of Milan, who was at first in charge of these ancient churches 
of the Piedmont, denied any inherent authority of succession 
from Peter ; held to justification by faith instead of works ; 
maintained two sacraments instead of seven ; denied the 
bodily presence of Christ in the sacrament ; knew nothing 
of the mass or extreme unction ; had nothing to say about 
purgatory ; while he declared that to adore images was 
pure Paganism. 

Later on, these churches seem to have been transferred 
to the jurisdiction of another bishopric. From the fall of 
the Roman Empire, in 476, to the year 1000, moral darkness 
clouded Europe. It was the midnight of the Middle Ages. 
During part of this time Claudius, bishop of Turin, was in 
charge of the Piedmont Christians. He was a noted Chris- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


13 


tian reformer, and used the most stringent means to keep 
his people pure in faith and upright in morals. From the 
writings of Augustine we learn that Claudius had attained 
the sweetest and highest views of truth. In accord with 
the devout and learned Augustine, Claudius believed that 
man is not justified by works, but only through the mercy 
and grace of Grod in Christ. He said : “ Grod commanded 

us to bear the Cross, and not to worship it.” He denied 
the efficacy of prayers for the dead, the worship of saints 
and images, the authority of traditions and the doctrine of 
merits. Christ was for him the acknowledged head of the 
Church. Here in the darkest period of Europe’ s night, we 
find this people steadfastly furnishing the light. The Pa- 
pacy had neither won them by its doctrines, nor conquered 
them to its jurisdiction. 

It is most important to note that the Church at Rome was 
not in doctrine, faith or rule a universal Church then, any 
more than at any period since. In the second century, and 
again in the seventh, and again in the ninth, and yet 
again in the eleventh, there is the very clearest evidence 
that the Piedmont Christians had the pure Word of God. 
They were instructed therein by pious and learned pastors. 
The pastors were not celibate priests ; but were married and 
had families, and in all the relations of life not unlike the 
Protestant pastors of to-day. 

Why was that not a Protestant Christianity ? In faith, 
morals and government, it was a living -protest against the 
Papal Church, when the Papal Church was yet in its cradle. 

The ancient Waldensian Church, as it is called, of the Pied- 
mont country, is symbolized by a standard with a dark field, 
having a lighted candle standing in its center, throwing out 
its beams on every side. Over it hangs the sky of night, 
dotted with seven stars ; while round about it are the words, 


14 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


lux lucet in tenehris, (a light shining in the darkness). If 
any Christian community could show that when corruption 
first appeared in the church they protested against it, and 
when Papal evils were engrafted on the church, that they 
“ came out from her and were separate,’^ then their claim 
to an Apostolic Church cannot be questioned. These valley 
Christians never nursed from the corrupt life of the Koman 
Church, or took to the idea of priestly rule, and they never 
subscribed to the Roman constitution. 

PAGANISM THE CHIEF SOURCE OF PAPAL FORMS. 

There, in the Piedmont valleys, was a live and flourishing 
Christianity, when the forces of the Papacy were coming 
in from Pagan sources. The distinctive separation between 
Piedmont Christianity and that of Rome lies in this — Pa- 
ganism never found admission into the Piedmont church, 
whilst in the third and fourth centuries the Roman Church 
was more indebted to Pagan than to Christian sources for 
its faith, power and life. We can see how the Papal relig- 
ion is simply a transferred, but not transformed. Pagan re- 
ligion. In the fourth century gross practices of Paganism 
were already taken up by the Church at Rome. The heath- 
en had believed in many gods and silly helps to devotion. 
The Roman Church thought to win the heathen by coming 
as near this practice as could be. And so there rapidly 
came in images, pictures, relics, processions, pilgrimages, 
bodily injuries and penances, self-inflicted, in order to con- 
form to heathen fashion. Abandonment of the world for 
the life of a hermit led to monkery, which came in later. 

Ambition became intrenched in the Papal-pagan church, 
as true Christianity departed. The bishop of Rome wanted 
power. So began the trend towards established Papacy. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


15 


By Eoman Catholic authority it is quite evident there was 
no thought of supremacy by the local heads of the Church 
at Eome, prior to the third century, and no attempt to 
general rule over the whole world for several centuries 
later. Du Pin, Bellarmine, Alexander, are three great 
authorities on Papacy, among Eoman Catholic writers. 
All of these agree that there is no evidence that the Church 
of Eome assumed any supremacy, prior to the close of the 
fourth century. By leading and fearless Eoman Catholics 
the Papacy has always been regarded as an assumption of 
the ambitious bishops of Eome. 

At a meeting of the Vatican, after Eome had been de- 
livered from Charles V. Staphylo, bishop of Libari, told the 
Pope and Cardinals that they had been suffering the judg- 
ments of heaven for their own wickedness. And he ap- 
plied to the Eoman Papacy Isaiah’s prophecy against it, 
and declared the Papacy the Babylon of the Apocalypse. 
No Protestant ever spoke stronger. 

Constantine had much to do with the preparation of the 
Church at Eome for Papal assumption. In the course of 
his military career he gained a signal victory at the Milvian 
Bridge, near Eome, in the early part of the fourth century. 
He here assumed the emperorship of the West and espoused 
the cause of the Church, and imposed its dogmas on the 
Western Pagan world. At once there came into the Church 
a flood of heathen customs, rites and immoralities. Eoman 
Christianity became more Paganized, than heathenism be- 
came Christianized. The worship of Christ was united to 
the worship of Apollo, the name of the one and the figure of 
the other being placed on the Eoman coins. The union 
thus formed between Paganism and the Eomish Church 
has never been put apart. At first the Church was divided 
into three capitals of equal authority, Eome, Alexandria 


16 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


and Antioch. Later Constantinople and Jerusalem were 
added, and the five were co-equal. The bishops of Rome 
gradually subdued the Italian clergy, and by the end of 
the sixth century had brought them into complete subjec- 
tion. The only exception that has been found is that of the 
Piedmont country. 

GEEGOEY I., AND THE BEGINNING OF THE PAPAL CLAIM. 

In the beginning of the seventh century, G-regory I., 
whose distinguishing traits were enthusiasm, ambition and 
ignorance, began the claim of divine authority and defined a 
succession from Peter, and opened negotiations with the 
neighboring sovereigns, looking to his temporal sovereignty. 

In the early part of the seventh century, the Emperor 
Phocos conferred on Boniface III., Bishop of Rome, title 
of Universal Bishop, and from this grant dates the real be- 
ginning of the Papacy. 

For more than a century there was no sign of renewed 
power. Then came the separation from the Greek Church, 
in the eighth century, and the Papal government became an 
independent temporal authority over the city of Rome. By 
the tenth century the Popes held large sections of Europe, 
and subfeuded to military vassals. Then was a period of 
general infamy in the Papacy. Leo IV. alone should be 
excepted from the scandalous vices and crimes which 
marked the times, not the least of which was that of two 
female Popes, of wanton and vicious character. 

Before Otho the Great entered Italy, the most prosperous 
cities and most fertile sections had passed to the ownership 
of the bishops and monasteries. The temporal power was 
growing amazingly, abetted by the donations of the north- 
ern conquerors, who gave their wealth to appease the wrath 
of God against their crimes. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


17 


During this period gross teachings of false and impure 
doctrines, vain and gaudy showings of power and growing 
oppressions, prevailed in Italy, and especially in Rome, and 
the region round about. The Waldensian Christians of the 
Piedmont were clear of their contamination. The most 
penetrating search-light of history shows that none of these 
abuses were countenanced. Most noble people ! 

A EELIGION PURE AS PROTESTANTISM. 

Among them are to be found the foot-steps of our holy 
religion, during the dark ages of the eighth, ninth, and 
tenth centuries. Long before the Protestant Reformation, 
the Piedmont Christians were a burning light in the dark- 
est night of Christendom. In the ninth century we find 
these Christians longing for more spirituality in the church 
and vital piety in the world. In the eleventh century we 
find them maintaining the authority of the Bible over mere 
tradition, and the rights of their own consciences against 
the pretentious claims of the Popes. Through these dark 
centuries they at times became tainted with some of the 
evils of the corrupt Papacy ; nor is this strange with the 
unclean waters washing all about them. But they were 
generally found upholding the purity of Christian morals, 
the supremacy of the Bible, and the right of their pastors 
to marry. 

What additional is needed to constitute a protesting 
church ? Many of our Protestant pulpits of the day do 
not come up to this measure of faithfulness in maintaining 
purity of doctrine and independence of the private conscience. 
With more light, superior knowledge and a greater reason, 
because of the results of a Bible Protestantism, many pulpits 
in our land are more feeble in raising a voice against the 


18 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


shallow pretences of Papal arrogance, than that remnant of a 
pure church in the secluded valleys of Italy’s northland. 

The fact must not be lost sight of, at a time when Kome 
is so active in destroying the data of history, that in the 
little valleys of the Italian Alps always lived those who 
maintained their independence against Papal supremacy, 
and kept their faith pure when assailed by Pagan rites 
through Papal channels. Behold here a remnant of God’s 
modern Israel ! 

THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE DAWN, AND THE AWFULNESS OF 
THE CONFLICT. 

The twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, the great divide 
between the dark ages and the modern Christian centuries, 
came on apace. It was a time of great religious zeal. The 
dawn was at hand. And such a dawning as it was to be ! 
It was to last long, and the powers in conflict were to be 
pitted against each other as never before. Thought began 
to rove untrammeled over religious institutions and forms. 
Modern language became the vehicle of thought. The 
Crusades were pouring their light upon Europe. That 
brilliant devotionalist, Thomas A’ Becket, in England, was 
reproving the Pope for not conserving the liberties of the 
Church. King John in front of Windsor Castle had been. 
forced to sign the Magna Charter. Dante gave a new im- 
pulse to language in Italy. Emperor Henry, of Germany, 
invades Italy, and imprisons the Pope. Milan declares for 
a republican form of government. The Lombard League is 
formed to conserve the movement for free cities, and Italy 
holds a Parliament of Free Cities. To check the coming 
light the Bible is prohibited in Italy, and a crusade for 
extermination is started against the Waldenses. And the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


19 


Knights Templars rise in Europe, and become an anti- 
Papal movement. 

PERSECUTION OF PETER WALDO. 

In the south of France Peter Waldo began to study the 
Bible. A light was struck in a new place, and because of 
Papal tyranny was to be carried afar. He employed two 
learned men to render the Scriptures in the common tongue 
of the people. His great piety persuaded him, and his 
equally great wealth enabled him to do this. The only ex- 
tant copies of the Bible at this time were in the old Latin, 
and not readable by the masses. The study of the Bible 
and the death of a friend powerfully affected him. As he 
saw the light himself, he sought to arouse the Church* 
But alas, it was the Papal Church. When the Pope im- 
posed the mass, he opposed the Pope. He had to flee for 
his life. He took refuge in the Piedmont valleys, whose 
fame had reached him. Here he became a leader among a 
people who continue to be among the most evangelical of 
the pre- Reformation Christians. So the branch of Chris- 
tianity, which alone in all the world, represents separation 
from and independence of the Church at Rome, goes on 
maintaining the cause of religious liberty and rights of 
conscience ; and in the face, too, of an ever increasing bitter- 
ness of persecution. 

DOMINIC THE FOUNDER OF THE DOMINICANS. 

About this time lived Dominic, the founder of the Domin- 
ican order of monks. He was full of zeal and equally full 
of bigotry. Ability and culpability were in him in equal 
degree, the one a master talent, the other a master passion. 
He had a genius for organization, and large powers of exe- 


20 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


cution ; but he was a tyrant in rule, and heartless in his 
cruelties. He organized the tribunal of the Inquisition to 
oppose heresy, and was the first Inquisitor-general. This 
most infamous and longest-continued enginery of persecu- 
tion, was invented to induce the people who had been in the 
habit of reading the Bible, to give up such a pious custom. 
The Pope had decided that it was not good for the people 
to know anything about the Scriptures, and this opinion of 
one man must be respected by all the world, even if the 
people had to be killed in the way most cruel. The people 
are nothing when the Pope speaks. 

A SYNOD OKDERS THE CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY. 

The Synod of Toulouse in 1229 ordered the overthrow of 
the literary, religious and art revival of southern France. 
It commanded the bishops to employ agents to hunt out 
the followers of Waldo ; destroy every house which shel- 
tered one of them, or in which was found the Scriptures ; 
confiscate the property of any official who extended sym- 
pathy to them ; and were ordered to deprive those holy 
disciples of the cross of the Savior, of all Christian help, 
even in mortal illness. 

As the Papal throne regarded the evil of reading the 
Bible, it were better that the dying go without the comforts 
of religion than Scripture reading be tolerated. Accord- 
ing to the view then pertaining in the Komish Church, the 
dying would go to hell if they did not receive the ministry 
of the priests. Hence it was that the Popes were pleased 
to send people to hell, as a punishment for reading the 
Bible. That great common law of individual liberty of 
conscience was withheld from the people, by a Church 
which is still in the world, and has made no change of opin- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


21 


ion, and by some of the signs which are seen, it must be 
said, no change of methods, where it has sufficient power 
to enforce the old methods of Dominican ingenuity and 
savagery. 

INQUISITORIAL TORTURES THE OBJECT OF THE DOMINICANS. 

Some of the bishops were slow to enforce the infamous 
orders of the Pope, nor did they favor the hellish proceed- 
ings of Dominic. And on this account Gregory IX. , in 1232, 
instituted the special Tribunal of the Inquisition. The 
plan for this was originally made by Dominic. When it 
was established by the Pope’ s favor, he was made the head 
of the Order of Dominicans, with unlimited powers. The 
Order was at once lifted above the bishops, and all local 
authority, and reported directly to the Popes at Rome. 
The bishops were too humane for the head of the Church at 
Rome. What a commentary on the men who pretended to 
be sole representatives of Christ on earth ! The spirit of 
Christ had departed, and the spirit of humanity was gone ! 
What was left but the spirit of the prince of all evil ? If 
more cruel monsters lived than these Popes of the Middle 
Ages, we may wish history to charitably conceal their 
features. 

All parties suspected were accused and tried, without be- 
ing permitted to face accusers or witnesses. A deeper wrong 
was never practiced upon innocent people during the dark 
centuries. It was simply infamous, after all excuse is made 
for the bigotry of the times. No feelings of humanity 
could remain with men engaged in such persecutions, and 
most certainly not the sweet spirit of the gentle Xazarene. 
Torture was freely used to enforce confession. Those who 
could endure the torture without confessing, were handed 


22 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


over to the secular authorities, to be burned at the stake or 
impaled on spikes and left to perish. And the court, under 
the direction of the Church, was the mere tool of the Order 
of the Dominicans. The Roman Pontiffs who ordered these 
things — Innocent III., Gregory IX., and Innocent IV . — 
considered the supremacy of Rome the very keystone in the 
arch of the Church, the state and society, and held that the 
Popes ought to have supreme authority, and final, over a 
man’s body, family, property, and his soul. By the pro- 
vision of Innocent III., special agents were sent to Spain 
and to the south of France ‘*to catch and kill the little 
foxes,” by which he meant the intelligent and holy Wal- 
denses and Bible readers. 

Persecution became more furious than before. It raged 
wherever there was the least disposition to consult the Bible 
rather than the priest, and where any suspicion was awak- 
ened, that men were thinking upon the questions of moral 
and social rights. The cloud-bursts mostly came to Spain 
and southern France, where the evangelical movement of 
Waldo had refreshed the people, and in the Piedmont, 
against which country the Popes had special grievance. 

The Waldenses distinguished themselves for all time, for 
their endurance in faith and patience under trial. Many a 
dark path had this peculiar little race traveled in the past. 
Persecutions had not destroyed their faith, nor had Papal 
tyranny subdued their courage. They had grown strong 
in spirit, as they became fewer in numbers. 

TEN PERSECUTIONS, AND TWENTY TO FOLLOW. 

They had already passed through ten persecutions, and 
were now entering upon the most stupendous that ever any 
people experienced, up to that time. The trained blood- 
hounds of the Inquisition were turned loose upon them 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


23 


without any restraint, but with the encouragement of a 
conscienceless Pope ; and without any limit, until cruelty 
became exhausted and physical endurance was at an 
end. Through it all, their heroism arose to almost Christ- 
like grandeur. Calumny humbled them, but could not 
suppress them. The hoarse cry of the hateful fanaticism of 
corrupt error fell upon their ears, but never dazed their 
hearts. Loss of property reduced them to poverty, but did 
not cool their devotion to the truth. They shed their blood, 
but they did not surrender their Lord at the bidding of the 
Pope. Without food for the stomach, or clothing for the 
body, they fed on the Word of Cod, and clothed themselves 
with the garment of pious humility. 

While this was going on in the Piedmont, it was even 
more violent in the south of France, which had become a 
recruiting station for Piedmont Christianity. Every device 
of Dominican hate was brought into play, and the days 
were made hideous with the terrible sufferings inflicted 
under the Pope’s power. It seems as if human infamy 
reaches its climax, as it empties itself upon this faithful 
Israel of the south of France, emigrating for conscience 
sake to the Piedmont country, and uniting with the primi- 
tive Christians already there. 

A DEEADFUL PICTUEE, BUT TEUE. 

And now the sufferings of the Piedmontese are increased 
in volume and spirit. Such extreme persecutions have per- 
haps never fallen upon any one people before or since. The 
story is one of harrowing feelings, and truly sad to relate. 
It were better never repeated, were it not that so long as 
Rome keeps on in the same spirit, the testimony must be 
kept in court. As long as Rome goes on in her old way*^ 


24 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


her past must not be forgotten. Here is a picture of Rome 
in the Piedmont : Children were torn away from their pa- 
rents — pastors slain and kidnapped — people covered with 
pitch and set on fire — the fiesh beaten off with heavy chains 
— the shoulders beaten with burning brands — fiayed alive — 
thrown from top of precipices — sawn asunder — impaneled 
on iron spikes — buried alive — fastened down in the furrows 
of their own fields and plowed into jelly — blown up with 
gun-powder, put into the mouth after the tongue had been 
cut out — limbs chopped off slowly with a hatchet — tied up 
to trees, and the hearts and lungs hacked out — fathers walk- 
ing to their death with the heads of their sons hanging 
about their necks — infants dashed against the rocks — breasts 
of women torn out — quick-lime put into bleeding wounds — 
nails torn out by the roots — tight cords drawn around the 
limbs, and drawn a little tighter each day for weeks — 
crushed under massive slabs lowered by machinery. This 
is the record. How diabolical it all seems. When men in- 
stigate and execute such deeds as these, is it done in the 
spirit of Christ or anti-Christ ? We exclaim with the Scrip- 
tures, ‘‘0 Lord, how long!” 

Eventually, wasted away in numbers, they became too 
weak to defend themselves. They had to appeal for the 
privilege of living. They implored to be left alone, noth- 
ing more. It was a simple request for a weak party to 
make of a strong one. They petitioned to Francis I., of 
France, for the simple rights of citizens. He replied that 
as he was at that very moment burning heretics in Paris, he 
was not likely to spare them in the Alps. Unsafe in their 
own homes, friendless in their own land and pilgrims on 
their own roads, they were depressed, but not despondent. 
Deserted by their king, they deserted not their Savior. Find- 
ing they could not put their trust in the princes of earth, 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


25 


they calmly placed their confidence in the Prince of Peace. 

The great Lateran Council had the policy of Innocent 
III. before it, and confirmed it. This was a policy of the 
most vigorous persecution. Thus the whole Roman Catho- 
lic Church upheld and sustained, and rejoiced in this 
wicked crusade against civil and religious liberty. The 
Count of Toulouse was charged by Innocent III. with the 
duty of persecuting the Piedmont Christians. He neglected 
this duty, and in his neglect was his crime. He was de- 
clared to be an enemy to the Church, and was excommuni- 
cated. An interdict was placed on his people, and neigh- 
boring princes were directed to invade and take pos- 
session of his lands. By this means he was forced into line 
with the Papal policy. 

THE CHUECH LEVIES A TAX ON FRANCE. 

By order of the Pope all persons friendly to the Pied- 
mont Christians, were declared incapable of holding public 
office, giving evidence, or bequeathing property. The same 
Pope calls on the King of France to send assistance to aid 
in their suppression. All who enlisted in the war against 
them wore the cross upon the breast, and were promised 
temporal and spiritual benefits. To meet the expense, of 
this extensive move against civil and religious rights, a tax 
was imj)osed on France. 

The times grew harder for them. The darkest hour of 
the night had not yet come. How could they stand more 
of Papal wrongs ? In 1485 the Pope attempted to extermi- 
nate them. This Pope was Innocent YIII., a man without 
character or integrity. He had no reputation except for 
hardheartedness and injustice. To claim this monster 
was the Vicegerent of God on earth, is to raise the question 


26 


THE BOM AN PAPACY. 


if God is Just. At one time tliis Pope was organizing a 
crusade against tlie Turks in the Holy Land ; and in a short 
while was willing, in consideration of a yearly payment of 
forty thousand dollars, to favor the Sultan of Turkey in 
such a crime as retaining his fugitive brother a prisoner in 
the Vatican. In his zeal to destroy the Piedmont Chris- 
tians, he promised forgiveness of sin to all who would en- 
gage in the work of extermination. Is here not found the 
fruit of villainy ? Here is a case of a Pope bribing men to 
enter upon a campaign of murder. What is such a Pope 
but a murderer ? When he hired others to murder vast 
numbers because they did not think as he did, the blood of 
the victims is on their hands, but it is equally on his heart, 

SMOKIJ^^G THEM OUT. 

In 1488 the Pope’s legate, dispatched to serve the Papacy^ 
strangled eighteen to death. The people fled before him 
in terror to high caverns among the rocks, six thousand feet 
above the valley. Here with their cattle, and provisioned 
for two years, they sought asylums. Property and lands 
were left behind, and they were only seeking security of 
life. But the Legate ordered immense fires built at the 
cavern entrances, and as the people were driven out by the 
smoke, they perished in the flames or by sword. So fell 
three thousand. 

GENERAL CONFISCATION. 

The Legate acted as agent of their property. He pro- 
ceeded to distribute it among the Papal vagabonds. A cen- 
tury before, this same wrong had fallen upon their fathers. 
Home sent her edicts of banishment, in the middle of the 
winter, as had been her custom always. They were ordered 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


27 


to embrace the Catholic religion, or immediately quit the 
valleys. They were to leave their property behind them. 
And Rome took possession as usual. 

From the year 1056 to 1290, five Papal bulls were issued 
for their extermination. Heartless cruelty went to the 
furthest stretch of brutality. In order to determine if one 
was guilty of heresy, a red-hot iron was applied to the cheek, 
and if it burned the fiesh it was proof of heresy, and execu- 
tion followed. 

As an instance of Papal treatment, an elder was forced to 
witness the beheading of his two sons, the outrage of his 
daughter-in-law and the massacre of her four children ; then 
he was driven, with the heads of his family strung about 
his head, to Luzerne, where he was hung. And all this 
was in the name of the Roman Catholic Church. The world 
is not willing that this should be forgotten, so long as that 
Church is with us, boasting that it is unchanged. 

CATHOLICS EXEMPT FROM KEEPIXO CONTRACTS. 

Laws were enacted making the contracts, entered into 
with the Piedmontese, null and void. Simply because they 
did not think as the Pope on matters of religion, Catholics 
were not bound to keep contracts with them, and this by 
Papal legislation too. Ail persons were empowered to take 
possession of their property. Along with the Popes, the 
Papal kings were bent upon the extinction of this honest 
and useful people. The Edict of Nantes was a measure 
passed in favor of the early French Protestants. But dur- 
ing the rule of Louis XIY. that impious king, to please the 
Pope, revoked the Edict of Nantes. Many of the Piedmont 
people lived in eastern France. So it was distinctly a 
measure against the Waldenses, as well as against the Hu- 
guenots. 


28 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


CRUEL EXILE IN MID-WINTER. 

And now either exile or extermination, was a mere mat- 
ter of choice with them. The French Waldenses lived 
mostly in the province of Savoy. King Louis, a Papal tool, 
told the Duke of Savoy he must make these valley people 
conform strictly to the Church of Pome, or drive them 
out. The very worst was now at hand. They had to ac- 
cept the situation. By 1685 they had been reduced to less 
than three thousand souls, and this remnant had to submit 
to exile. Terrific and sudden came the blow. 

It was a dreary and exceptionally cold mid-winter. They 
crossed the Alps, experiencing the severest suffering, and 
leaving many of their dead behind them on the Alpine 
snows. They arrived at last at the blue waters of the Lake 
of Geneva, weak and exhausted. 

Who did this ? Why, the Pope of Rome ! What had this 
people done that they should have such a fate dealt out to 
them ? In all matters of state they had faithfully obeyed 
the laws of their country ; but in matters of conscience they 
asked to stand alone before their God. This was their 
crime, and such their punishment. And we judge this hate- 
ful tyranny, which was without pity or justice. 

This was in the seventeenth century, and by this time 
the Reformation was a success in all western Europe. In 
Switzerland the exiles found a generous welcome among 
the warm-hearted Swiss reformers. They had found a 
harbor of rest, and their sojourn among the Swiss peasants 
was a grateful period of peace. But the love for their na- 
tive valleys was strong within them. After four years they 
longed to return. Their pastor and leader, Henri Arnaud, 
started with a remnant of eight hundred for the re-conquest 
of their country. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


29 


It took tkem weeks to cross the Alps. But at last they 
entered the old valleys again. On the first day of Septem- 
ber, 1689, after four years of absence, they stood within the 
dear Piedmont valleys. Their pastor mounted a platform, 
with sword in one hand and Bible in the other, to preach to 
them. They chanted the seventy-fifth Psalm to the clash 
of arms. Here they framed and agreed to this famous cov- 
enant : ‘‘God by his divine grace, having happily led us 
back to the heritage of our forefathers, there to re-establish 
the pure service of our holy religion, by the completion of 
the great enterprise which the great God of armies hath 
hitherto conducted in our favor ; we, the pastors, captains, 
and other officers, swear before God, at the peril of our 
souls, to observe union and order among us ; never willing- 
ly to separate or to disunite, while God shall grant life to 
us ; not even though we should be so miserable as to be re- 
duced to three or four ; never to parley, or to treat with 
our enemies, as well of France as of Piedmont, without the 
participation of our whole council of war ; and to put to- 
gether the booty which we have, or shall have, to be ap- 
plied to the wants of our people, or to extraordinary causes. 
And we soldiers* swear this day before God to obey the 
orders of all our officers ; and we swear fidelity to them 
with all our hearts, even to the last drop of our blood ; also 
to give up to their care the prisoners and booty to be dis- 
posed of as they shall see fit. And in order to more perfect 
organization, it is forbidden, under heavy penalties, for 
any officer or soldier to search any enemy dead, wounded 
or prisoner, during or after battle ; but persons shall be ap- 
pointed for this purpose. The officers are enjoined to take 
care that the soldiers keep their arms and ammunition in 
order, above all, to chastise severely any one who shall 
swear or blaspheme. And to render union, which is the 


30 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


soul of our affairs, inseparable among us, we, the officers, 
swear fidelity to the soldiers, and we the soldiers to the 
officers ; promising, moreover, to our Lord and Savior Jesus 
Christ, to rescue as far as may in us lie, our brethren from 
the power of the cruel Babylon, and with them to re-estab- 
lish and maintain his kingdom unto death ; and by this 
oath we will abide all our lives 

piedmont’s warning to AMERICA. 

In this truly sublime Covenant are seen such principles 
of brotherly attachment, Christian equality, justice and 
forbearance to enemies in war, and personal responsibility 
to the right, as have left no mark anywhere in history dur- 
ing these dark centuries, up to this instance. In showing 
devotion and endurance to a noble cause it is unexcelled, 
and in dependence upon God for help it is quite touching. 
It is a paper which it is well should not be lost to posterity. 
Nor should it be forgotten that the Bomish Church, which 
had grown prominent in those evils and corruptions which 
for seven centuries have marked it, was the tyrannical power 
which made it necessary for them to rais^ this pathetic cry 
to the world. The world has heard it. And the audacious 
designs of Romanism upon the civilizations of to-day, will 
make the world disposed to remember this cry and be 
warned by it. For unless all history is misread, there is 
danger that the scenes of the Piedmont valleys may be re- 
peated among the greater valleys of America. 

In this nineteenth century the Papacy stands confronted 
by its own wrongs, which in other centuries it perpetrated 
against the Piedmontese. Now, the methods of the Papal 
Church are somewhat more mild, because of the greater 
fear of the un-Catholic world. The Papal power has exiled 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


31 


deposed rulers, confiscated property, subverted govern- 
ments, persecuted in a double score of ways, and carried on 
a general regime of tyranny and ecclesiastical rule, most 
hurtful to the interests of the world. If the world would 
be willing to stand by and look on, and make no objection, 
the Papacy would repeat in our great country, inside of 
fifty years, her course in little Piedmont. Let American 
patriots heed the lessons gathered from the history of the 
Piedmont patriots. 

MURDEROUS ASSAULT A CENTURY AGO. 

That was a diabolical plot designed against them a century 
ago. The humanity of the world had progressed beyond 
such a spirit, but no matter, this was Pome upon whom hu- 
manity has no claim, and from whom humanity can ex- 
pect no quarter. It was only one short century ago that it 
was determined by the Papacy to extinguish the Protest- 
ants of LaTorre. All the able-bodied men were on the 
frontier, defending their country against France. The old 
and the young were alone with the women. Suddenly, one 
day there came to them a message that they were to be fal- 
len upon that night, as the evening bells of the convent 
rang out. Windows and doors were hurriedly barricaded, 
and stones were collected for defense. A courier was dis- 
patched to the frontier. The commanding general hastened 
forward with a company of troops. They were the fathers 
and husbands of the threatened helpless. As the evening 
shades began to gather early in the mountain fastnesses, a 
storm came up, and howled and swept with the fury 
of the hurricane, while the rain poured in great torrents. 
Through the storm they bent their way in sheer desperation. 
The village of LaTorre was in sight. The vesper bells were 
ringing. The clang of their arms and the tramp of their 


32 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


hurrying feet reached the ears of the belated assassins — 
belated by the storm of a friendly Providence. Did those 
Piedmontese soldiery avenge themselves on the designers 
of foul murder? Who would blame? Not a drop of blood 
was spilt. They only turned over the leaders to the gov- 
ernment, which was so wholly Romish that all it did was 
to allow the guilty to escape and to disgrace the innocent. 
General Godin, who sent his men to save their families, was 
dismissed from the service, and the command given to a 
Romanist. This plan of the Papacy, to general armies with 
Romanists that Papal interests might be served, is not a 
new thing in the world, nor has recent years in our own 
country been a stranger to this crime. Let Americans look 
to this. 

PEOSCRIPTIVE LAWS OF THE PAPACY. 

One hundred years ago the Papal throne had some 
strangely unjust laws in vogue in this Piedmont country. 
Protestants were not allowed to enter the callings of law, 
medicine or pharmacy, and these lasted until quite late in 
this century. Protestants were not permitted to hold mu- 
nicipal offices, but had to be ruled over exclusively by Ro- 
manists. Protestant children might be taken from their 
parents, and educated in Roman Catholic schools. No 
Protestants could purchase land out of certain perscribed 
limits. No Protestant books could be printed in the coun- 
try, while the duty on im]3orted ones was enormous. Prot- 
estants had to keep the Romish holidays, and there was 
from one to three each week. There is an instance of a 
Protestant watering his garden on a festival day, and he 
was condemned to pay a heavy fine. The Protestants had 
to pay a tax one-third higher than their Roman Catholic 
fellow citizens. Taxes are always outrageously high in 


THE ROMAN RAP ACT. 


33 


countries where Papal laws prevail. The Catholics in Pied- 
mont paid a tax of thirteen per cent., the Protestants paid 
twenty and one-half per cent. 

AN HEROIC TYPE OF PEOPLE. 

Each and all of these laws are in accord with the Canon 
Law of the Roman Church. By that law they are to be 
sustained. The startling thing to reflect upon is, that where 
Papal power pertains to any considerable extent these laws 
are put in practice as much as possible, if it is not within 
the Papal power to put them in the statute books. In our 
country some of these laws are in force without being on 
the statute books. This evil must be corrected, or it will 
grow until it becomes a persecution. What Rome has in 
practice in our midst to-day, she will have in the law to- 
morrow. 

Yerily these Piedmont Christians were distinguished for 
an heroic faith and unsurpassed endurance. They have 
been overrun by the Moors, the Saracens and the Hunga- 
rians. They have had war made upon them by the French, 
underthe Duke of Savoy and again by the King, Louis XIV., 
by the Irish, who fled from Cromwell, and by all the allied 
armies of the Pope time and again. But they have been 
unwilling to be exterminated. They have withstood thirty- 
three wars on account of their faith. They had already 
passed through ten persecutions before Rome adopted the 
policy of extermination. Then for more than six centuries 
the blood-hounds of persecution have sucked the vitality 
from them. But they would not become extinct. A per- 
sistent race they have been. They have indeed been a 
‘‘ nation scattered and peeled, a nation meted out and trod- 
den down.” Though exiled they have returned ; persecut- 
ed unto death, they still survive, and live in their own 
homes, witnessing to the truths of the Bible. 


34 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


Their faith was of the heroic type. It was a saying that 
one of them was equal to twenty other soldiers. Heroism 
with them was the result of their strong patriotic feelings, 
and equally strong moral principles. Moral purpose is 
a stronger thing than physical might. The Piedmont 
soldiers were Christian patriots of the most splendid type. 

Their most noted hero, Givanello, with a band of twenty 
followers, defeated at one time a whole army of invaders. 
And again at Pra Del Tor, with a small company he gained a 
victory over an army of seven thousand, which moved up- 
on them in three columns. They rose up from their prayers 
to smite their approaching foes as by a bolt from heaven. 
Heroes for conscience sake, is the verdict of Piedmontese 
history. 


MOST INTELLECTUAL PEOPLE IN EUKOPE. 

They were intelligent, as they were moral. They were 
taxed for schools, and with the money convents were es- 
tablished, which were filled with monks, fostered by the 
courts. In spite of this we find in this belt of country the 
greatest intelligence prevailing during the Middle Ages 
anywhere in Europe. It was by this intellectual vigor, as 
well as by their moral convictions, that they so successful- 
ly opposed the ecclesiastical forms and power of the hier- 
archy. 

ONE OF napoleon’s LAST DESPATCHES. 

Their generous traits of character seem most charming 
at whatever point of time we look at them. I^'apoleon 
greatly admired them. One of the last dispatches he dic- 
tated from Moscow, with the city in fiames about him, re- 
lated to a Piedmont pastor. A noted Roman Catholic his- 
torian, De Thou, testifies of them that ‘‘charity is held in 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


35 


such, high honor among them that their neighbors, though 
differing in religion, when they would defend their daugh- 
ters against the licentious military, commit them to their 
care and fidelity.” 

The Waldenses are the children of Providence, the pe- 
culiar people of God. The cloud has been round about 
them for a wall of protection, and went before them for a 
pillar of light. They had heard the covenant speech of 
God, “now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and 
keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure un- 
to me above all people.” They have been blessed in this 
promise. They have been nurtured in a most peculiar way 
by the fostering care of the Lord. Piedmont is a state of 
God’ s making and keeping. And the Christians there shel^ 
tered, were raised up for the defense of the faith in Italy, 

WHY THE POPES PERSECUTED. 

When persecutions drove them from the cities and open 
country, God led them into the lonely defiles of the inac- 
cessible mountains, and there he always sheltered a rem- 
nant. When the kings of Europe and the Popes of Rome 
made cruel war upon them, for no other cause than to crush 
out their rights of conscience, God sent them over the 
Alps, to where open arms and sheltering homes awaited 
them by the blue waters of Geneva, where he recruited 
them in strength and courage, for further endurance and 
conflict. And when they returned to their native val- 
leys beyond the Alps, only to find their fields barren, 
their vineyards despoiled, and their homes mined, and 
withal an army hanging near, God moved English Chris- 
tians to send money with which to feed and shelter them . 
Cromwell sent word that unless the Christians of northern 


36 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Italy were left undisturbed in their religious rights, the 
boom of English cannon would be heard on the banks of 
the Italian lakes. All things seemed to work together for 
their preservation. 

It is something to contemplate this small, weak, often 
homeless people surviving, while all the Popes, kings and 
armies of southern Europe were bent on their destruction. 

And so the everlasting arms of Providence were round 
about them, preserving them through suffering, war, per- 
secution, and all species of Papal tyrannies. 

THEIR DEVOTION TO THE BIBLE. 

But the most important lesson, which is impressed by the, 
history of this ancient Christian community, is that of their 
dependence upon the Word of God. In this they were 
strict, faithful, devoted. And it is not to be doubted that 
there is the key by which to understand their long con- 
tinuance in sacred history. They have been a covenant- 
keeping, God-fearing people. Wherever a flash of light 
breaks over the dark pages of Europe’s past, these people 
are seen reading the holy Scriptures as the only supreme 
authority, and condemning the mass, the worship of saints 
and images, as contrary to the purity and teaching of the 
Scriptures. They thus stood opposed to priest, bishop and 
Pope. 

They were, so far as known, the first people to resist the 
encroachment of the worship of saints and images. They 
found no warrant for it in the Scriptures or in the history 
of the early Church. This contributed to increase Papal 
tyranny towards them. 

They believed in a religion that did not consist of the 
mass ceremonials and penances, but in a regenerating faith 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


87 


which must fill the heart, and fiow out in every vein with 
life-giving power. 

This very gratifying passage is found in one of their 
books: “Whatsoever degree of holiness any man hath, 
so much efficacy and power hath he in the Church, and no 
more ; he cannot go a step beyond his faith.” 

We may easily understand that a people with such relig- 
ious views were good citizens. They were obedient to all 
just laws. They took an intelligent interest in all matters 
of State. They were most set against Rome’s way of inter- 
fering with the matters of conscience. Here they rightly 
claimed their relations were directly with God. Their prin- 
ciples of morality, and for just dealings with their fellow- 
men, were among the most commendable we meet in the 
whole course of history. 

A SIXTEENTH CENTUKY PICTURE. 

One historian draws this picture of them in the sixteenth 
century : “They excluded from the congregations all who 
were guilty of perjury, theft and like evil practices. And 
that such is the regard and honor with which female purity 
is held among them, that the inhabitants of the circumja- 
cent country in time of war protect their daughters from a 
lawless soldiery by committing them to the good faith of 
the Waldenses.” And this, for the sixteenth century, is a 
high compliment to their integrity. So they have the in- 
dorsement of history, along with the approval of God. 

THEIR TABLE OF MORALS. 

Far back in the centuries they had this table of Chris- 
tian morals, which is almost ideal in its high standard : 

1. Love not the world. 


38 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


2. Avoid bad company. 

3. If possible live in peace with all men. 

4. Strive not in law. 

5. Revenge not yourselves. 

6. Love your enemy. 

7. Possess your souls in patience. 

8. Enter not the yoke with the unfaithful. 

9.. Do works of charity. 

10. Live by faith and moral practice. 

11. Devote yourselves to religion in due season. 

12. Confer one with another on the will of God. 

13. Examine diligently your consciences. 

14. Cleanse, amend and purify your souls. 

15. Be willing to suffer toils, calumny, threats, rejection 
of men, wrongs and all torments, for truth’s sake. 

16. Hold no communication with bad works, nor by 
any means with what savors of idolatry. 

This short, general statement of principles is quite enough 
to show that Papal teaching and practices never pertained 
to any extent among them. Rome never had such teachings . 

SUBLIME PASSAGE FKOM A PIEDMONT HYMN. 

Their sacred poetry shows devout Scriptural knowledge 
and deep spiritual sentiment, and has a lofty tone about it 
that is inspiring upon the soul. Here is a sublime passage 
taken from a great religious hymn of the year eleven 
hundred : 

It was a noble law that was given us of God, 

And written in the heart of every man, 

That he might there read it, and keep it, and teach righteous- 
ness. 

And love God in his heart above every creature, 

And he might have fear and serve him without reserve, 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


39 


There being none other to be found in the holy Scriptures ; 

That he might likewise keep firm the marriage tie, that noble 
contract ; 

And have peace with his brethren, and love all other persons ; 

That he might hate pride and love humility, 

And do to others as he would be done by. 

This sort of Apostolicity was both their watchword and 
their prayer. Practical religion was a supreme thought. 
Truthfulness characterized their conversation ; and they 
were quite unanimous in the exercise of brotherly love. 
They were as unselfish as they were devout, and as gener- 
ous to man as pious towards God. By these traits in their 
character, Milton was moved to the writing of one of his 
great poems. 

Through centuries of sufferings, and after centuries of . 
persecution, these heroic Christians patiently waited their 
time. They had lasting qualities of moral endurance, 
which served them when their time came. They have en- 
tered into the highest and best fame of the world. They are 
having an honored recognition, and are being accredited 
with their just and distinguished place in religious history 
and moral heroism. The world begins to see to what extent 
we are indebted to them, for their stand against the wrongs 
of the Papacy. Our religious and civil liberty is immeas- 
urably enlarged, by their standing protest against the at- 
tempts of Rome to force the first longing of free hearts into 
a retreat. In the most trying times of the past they stood 
steadfast as faithful witnesses. 

They entered history to make a record in patriotic devo- 
tion to country, but still more to build up a testimony for 
the truth as it is in Scripture. They stand before the dawn 
of the Reformation, posing a solid front to the intrusion of 
the Roman hierarchy. 


40 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


VALUE OF piedmont’s TESTIMONY AGAINST POPERY. 

And great was tlie influence of their testimony. The 
light they kindled went afar, and opened the paths in which 
other martyrs and reformers were to walk. It was no 
mild type of Protestantism they helped to establish. They 
sent the leaven near and far. Their distribution among the 
nations was a seeding time for Europe. In every strange 
land to which they were driven, they planted the standard 
of the true cross, and taught the people the blessings of 
personal rights. The Christianity they stood for had none 
of the drapery of Popery hanging about it. Under persecu- 
tion they went into Bohemia, and acted the part of a J ohn 
the Baptist in opening up a highway for the Bohemian 
Reformation. Driven by exile into Switzerland, they pil- 
lared the faith of the Genevan Reformers, and greatly con- 
tributed to make the Swiss Arm in their stand against the 
demands of the Pope. Swiss independence took its impulse, 
to a considerable extent, from the Waldensian refugees. 
In England they became the teachers of Wyclif and his 
school of Bible readers, and so were powerful agents in the 
coming in of the English Reformation. And again, in east- 
ern France they were the antecedents of the Huguenots, 
who immortalized themselves by the purpose to make 
the kingdom Protestant. The Waldensian faith was so 
magnetic that it rang like a clarion in the soul, as they 
called to each other to cherish the memories of the blood- 
stained mountain sides, where their fathers died for the 
cause they held dear. Their piety has in it to this day, a 
moral uplift. A lady who has recently lived among them 
and educated her children in their schools, writes : “I do 
not think I ever saw so many good people congregated on 
one small spot of earth, so noble-minded and so unselfish, 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


41 


SO brave and cheerful, and so willing to serve God for noth- 
ing.’’ 

piedmont’s contribution to liberty. 

They are entering upon their reward. Providence is 
opening wide doors for their evangelism in the cities of 
Turin, Genoa, Milan, Florence, Naples, and even Rome. 
This little Church of the dark past is rising to new strength 
and exerting more power in the world. She is lifting her 
voice of pure testimony in the shadow of the Vatican, which 
a very few centuries ago thundered its fury against her. 
She is preparing for new conflicts and more battles for the 
truth. Every step of religious liberty she takes in Italy, is 
a triumph for the cause of freedom and conscience in that 
country, no less than of religion the world over. And 
every victory she wins, in that old home country of the 
Papacy, is a rebuke to that monstrous evil, parading before 
the world in the garb of righteousness. The people with 
such a strange history behind them, must have a promising 
history before them ; they have made their mark upon the 
world, and they have helped to form the faith and mould 
the life of generations of patriots. 

The God of the Abrahamic faith will be the God of the 
Piedmont covenant, and the Jehovah of the Israel of Pal- 
estine will be the Jehovah of the Israel of the Alps ; while 
we may confidently believe that the Providence which at- 
tended the Apostolic Church will abide with these people 
of Apostolic faith and zeal. For this we pray. 


TO WYCLIF. 


Wyclif is disinhumed. 

Yea, his dry bones to ashes are consumed, 

And flung into the brook that travels near ; 

Forthwith that ancient voice which streams can hear. 
Thus speaks that voice which walks upon the wind. 
Though seldom heard by busy human kind : 

As thou these ashes, little brook, wilt bear 
Into the Avon — Avon to the tide 
Of Severn — Severn to the narrow seas — 

Into main ocean they, — this deed accurst. 

An emblem yields to friends and enemies. 

How the bold teacher’s doctrine, sanctified 

By truth, shall spread throughout the world dispersed.’" 


HAVE POPES AND COUNCILS DECLARED 
AGAINST THE BIBLE? 


Forasmuch as the reading of the Scriptures in the vul- 
gar tongue has been productive of more evil than good, it 
is expedient that they be not translated into the Vulgate, 
or read or possessed by any one, without a written license 
from the Inquisition, or the Bishop of the Diocese. 

Council of Trent. 

Neither at my father’s house, in the convent, nor dur- 
ing my military course, had I ever heard the Bible spoken 
of, much less seen a copy of it. It is true that I read 
short extracts from the Gospels in the Breviary and the 
Missal, but the word Bible I had never heard before. 

Monsalvatge (Spanish monk). 


PART 11. 


ENGLAND’S TRAGIC EXPERIENCE WITH THE 
PAPACY. 


The great English nation has had a tragic experience with 
the Roman Papacy. Its black art of evil diplomacy began 
early, has lasted long, and does not promise soon to end. 
English schools have been polluted, her parliaments have 
been intrigued, her laws Romanized, and her lands usurped. 
The Papacy has conspired, on English soil, to check Eng- 
lish learning, and rule her population by blighting ignor- 
ance. English civilization had to serve Papal ends. Every 
crime, known to the genius of evil, was committed, and every 
wrong known to the most experienced tyranny, was per- 
petrated. Dark conspiracies, internal revolutions, and 
bloody wars were instigated to advance the power of the 
Pope. 

There yet stands many a relic of Papal torture in old ab- 
bey and cathedral walls, and towers. (44\ 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


45 


England’s shame and fame. 

It is to the shame of England, that the Pope so ruled, and 
ofttinies so nearly ruined, that mighty Isle of the Seas. But 
it is to English glory, that she has had so many mighty ones 
to stem the tide of the Papal flood. And many has she had 
who went to death, while contending for rights of conscience, 
as against the Romish foes of liberty. 

Famed in song and famed in war, in colonization the first, 
and in statesmanship the same, is old England ; in learning 
she is eminent, and in commerce there is none superior. 
But no more in these is she famed, than in her heroic strug- 
gle for the rights of the people, to have the Bible, and to 
be free from hateful Papal rule. Her reformers, her relig- 
ious leaders, and her political giants, make a glorious list 
of men. Her martyrs, equally with those of Scotland and 
France, tell of masterly faith and moral endurance on their 
part, and barbarous cruelty and Pagan immoralties on the 
part of the Popes. 

THE POPE COKEUPTING THE BALLOT BOX. 

Rome has done much to destroy the facts of English 
history. Still the truth is accessible to the diligent stu- 
dent. And it must be told to our rising generation, and 
preserved for coming generations. There is much akin to 
English civilization in our system in America. What 
Rome has done in England, she will do in America. The 
Pope has done no more injury to England, than he will do, 
if permitted, in America. The Pope would as soon rule 
through political corruption, as through political laws. 
He would as soon buy the ballot box, as to turn his guns 
on the Constitution. In England he ruled by might, and 


46 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


in our country lie rules by priestly corruptions. The spirit 
is the same. In England it was the Italian knife, the chal- 
ice of poison and the train of gunpowder. In America it is 
political fraud, and direct bribery. The Popes that did 
rule England, were no worse than the Popes that are now 
ruling America. 

The story of the dawn in England is of surpassing inter- 
est. It tells the tale of mental stagnation, hardly equaled 
elsewhere in Europe, and of moral depravity most loathing. 
It uncovers the animosity of Rome for all men of independ- 
ent thought, and reveals her enmity to all schools not 
under her priestly control. It shows the peril of Romish 
orders and societies, working as secret Papal agents, and 
the extent of the Papal grasp on temporal power and pos- 
sessions. It warns of Rome’s cunning and far-reaching dip- 
lomacy, by which the parliaments were selected, laws were 
made, and institutions were changed by most unsuspecting 
methods, but all to reach the ends of the diabolical policy 
directed from the banks of the Tiber. 

The dawn of English liberation from Papal rule, runs 
parallel with the life of Wyclif. The light came to him, 
and he brought on the dawn. To look at his times, read 
his life and study his work, is to understand how hard it 
was for England to force the Popes of Rome to a position of 
toleration for ideas and men. not running in her grooves. 

A SCENE OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY. 

In the early years of the eighth century a touching 
scene occurs in the humble monastery at Wearmouth, in 
England. The venerable Bede, a man of pious character, 
scholarly attainments, and diligent in the study of the 
Latin Scriptures, had been, for a long while, at work on a 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


47 


translation of the four Gospels into the Saxon tongue. 
This was a prodigous task, and one of love. It was an event 
of moment in early English history. His death was coin- 
cident with the completion of the holy work. For a long 
while he lingered on the border, as the work drew near 
the end. He had reached the last chapter of John, when 
his writer said to him: “There remains now but one 
chapter, but it seems difficult for you to speak.” The dy- 
ing scholar rejJied: “No, it is very easy. Dip your pen 
in ink, and write as fast as ever you can.” After some time 
the scribe said : “ N o w only one sentence remains.’ ’ Bede 

translated it. “It is finished,” said the scribe. “It is 
finished,” responded Bede. “Lift up my head. Place 
me on the spot where it is my habit to pray. And now 
glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.” 
And it was all over. So was ended a great life, and so was 
completed a greater work. Both were to exert a far-reach- 
ing infiuence upon thought, political, as well as religious, in 
England. 

GEEAT nSTFLUET^CE OF THE FIEST ENGLISH BIBLE. 

This was the first attempt made to furnish the Word of 
God to the early Britains in their own tongue. Christian- 
ity was introduced into Britain soon after the Eoman con- 
quest. But nothing shows that the natives were yet given 
the Scriptures in their own language. Bede’s translation 
of the four Gospels was the first opportunity, of the early 
Britains, to read the Bible. It was a leaven that leavened 
the whole lump. It improved the language, the intelli- 
gence, the morals, as well as the faith, of the people. The 
ray of light produced by it reached forward into the Mid- 
dle Ages. It was like a dimly lighted path that stretched 


48 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


through several centuries. The open Bible was preserving- 
the faith, for the day of hope which was to come. 

THE NIGHT ABOUT TO BREAK. 

The long night lasted in England for five centuries, 
when suddenly the dawn began, with a fiood of light that 
startled the nation. The people were not expecting it, but 
God had things in preparation. Conditions had been ripen- 
ing for an epoch. Several streams of Providence seemed 
to be drawing to a focus. The hand of God was in the af- 
fairs of the nation, and it was time for Popes and priests 
to tremble. The light was about to be turned on, and all 
the monstrocities of Papal wrong and crime would be ex- 
posed to the awakened senses. England, even this early in 
her career, was a giant, but the giant had been sleeping. 
The whole of Europe would know of it when the giant was 
aroused. Pome was about to meet with one who, up to 
this time, was to prove her greatest foe. At the hands of 
one man, Popes and bishops were to have merciless chastise- 
ment. Pome’s conflict with free men, who had come to 
believe in their own right to think and act, without asking 
the permission of Pome to do so, was about to begin, on a 
scale never approached before. On the one side right, 
liberty and justice, on the other crime and wrong. On the 
one side the world, and on the other Pome. We will watch 
the conflict as it opens. 

Behold, a man comes forth, with deep-seated purpose, 
called of God, directed by Providence, and invested with 
the spirit of the Most High. He took the Scriptures, which 
were hidden away in the foreign solecism of the Latin lan- 
guage, and he gave them to the people in their own tongue. 
The people read, then thought, and then they were aroused. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


49 


One short pause I It was ominous. Then the people en- 
tered upon the great work of tearing off the insignia of 
superstition, throwing aside the habiliments of the Dark 
Ages, and, feeling the freshness of a new hope, they started 
towards the coming Reformation. 

This dawn came in England with a rush. Truth ca,me in 
like the brightness of the morning light. Its friends were 
astonished at its quickening power ; its enemies were 
amazed at its courage. In Italy it was a remnant Rome 
had to contend with, but in England it was a nation. Rome 
was to take her first lesson in human liberty, and witness 
the first general demand of a large number of people for 
certain personal privileges and national rights, such as the 
Popes hitherto had not conceded anywhere. But the Mid- 
dle Ages were slowly passing, and things could not again 
be what they had been. Hitherto men had neither the 
right nor the inspiration to think. Now they had dis- 
covered their right, and they greatly enjoyed it. Conditions 
were very much changed. 

THE FERMEHTS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

W e must draw a picture of these times. W e are now in 
the fourteenth century. It is a century marked by a gen- 
eral desire for knowledge. Several great universities were 
founded in this century ; among them were Paris, Heidel- 
berg, Prague, and Vienna. Thirty thousand students were 
at Oxford. Stupendous events were occurring on the con- 
tinent of Europe. The great Flemish revolt, against arbi- 
trary kingcraft, disturbed France on the north, while the 
hundred years’ war with England wasted her energies on 
the west. There is disturbance at Rome. The Papal throne 
is divided, one faction locating at Avignon. Part of the 
time there were two Popes, then anti-Popes, then no Popes 


50 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


at all, with the Papal chair waiting for some one to come and 
sit in it. Then the Pope excommunicated the Emperor of 
Germany, and then the Emperor of Germany retaliated by 
deposing the Pope. In Italy the Lombard League was formed 
against the Emperor, the Parliament of Free Cities con- 
vened, and Italy took the first step of that long journey, 
which was to terminate after the middle of the nineteenth 
century in making her a free nation. Bruce establishes the 
independence of Scotland at Bonnockburn. The Knights 
Templars, whose hearts of heroic chivalry and swords of 
skill beat back the hateful power of the Mediseval Turk, 
were suppressed by order of the Pope. The sale of indul- 
gences was instituted to raise money for the Papal treasury. 
The Papal power was rapidly reaching its culmination. 
'The ‘‘Black Death,’’ the most dreadful plague ever known, 
overran Europe, coming from the east and devastating the 
countries from the ^gean Sea to England, where it reached 
its height by carrying off one-half of the population. Men 
became serious, as well as inquiring, and were generally dis- 
contented with the prevailing state of religion. 

THE PLAGUE OF LOW MONKERY. 

But England was under a worse plague than that of the 
Black pestilence. Begging friars, in the garments of pov- 
erty, and in the practice of every conceivable immorality, 
hung about the people like carrion fiies about a carcass. 
They were organized professional beggars, of such a low 
type as Gypsies never equaled. There was one of these 
monkish beggars for every less than a dozen of the popula- 
tion. They bled the people to fill the treasury boxes of the 
orders. They kept the people in poverty, and themselves 
in idleness and debauchery. There was no class in the 
country so low as these monks. 


THE BOMAN PAPACY. 


61 


The Dominicans and Franciscans had risen to great and. 
evil power. By the purchasing power of large holdings, 
they sought to get possession of all the large universities of 
Europe. In Paris they succeeded, by the help of the Pope. 
Early in the fourteenth century the conflict was transferred 
to Oxford, in which university they secured the places of, 
teachers and lecturers, and labored to make all the students 
members of their orders. At this time they held, with the. 
Church, more than one-half of all the land of the kingdom. 

ONE-HALF THE LAND HELD BY THE CHURCH., 

The work of the Roman Church in England in the four- 
teenth century to force herself in the schools, in order to 
subvert them to her low standard, and at the same time se- 
cure all the public funds, is duplicated to an amazing extent 
five hundred years later in the United States, where Roman. 
Catholics control the school boards, and in many cities have 
one-half and two-thirds of the teachers. The public money 
goes to feed the Church, to the peril of the country ; and the 
Church in turn lowers the standard of education, that it 
might be on a level with the Church schools. 

PUBLIC MONEY FEEDS THE CHURCH. 

These Monkish orders in England grew richer than the 
kingdom itself. At one time their income amounted to 
twelve times as much as the whole civil revenue of the king- 
dom. In addition to this tax levied on the people by these 
orders, the Pope exacted large sums from the oppressed 
English. Within a few years Pope Gregory IX., required 
from England seventy-five million dollars. 


52 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


THE POPES ENGAGED IN SYSTEMATIZED KOBBERY. 

We shall see what Rome was to be at other times, and 
in other countries, but Rome’s course in England, in the 
fourteenth century, was one of systematized robbery. This 
ugly charge is sustained by testimony overwhelming. The 
whole machinery of the Papacy so operated as to force from 
the people the last pence. The Italian Papacy, as much as 
the notorious Italian banditti, was devoted to the crime of 
high robbery. 

The monks of this century, especially in England, were 
pretentious and hypocritical in life, and corrupt in habits. 
No one had any respect for them, or any confidence in them. 
They preached sermons made up of fables, chronicles of 
the world, Romish traditions, and stories of the siege of 
Troy. They were despised, and yet they were feared. No 
more despicable body of men ever lived. And yet they 
held the nation in their hands. Tradition was a higher au- 
thority with them than revelation, while legends, descrip- 
tive of the saints of Rome, and her Popes, were taught in 
a way to glorify the Popes. The services of the Romish 
Church in England in this century, was almost entirely 
Pagan. Idolatry took the place of piety, and the power, 
majesty, and glory of the Popes, were the objects of this 
idolatry. 

A SHAMEFUL SURRENDER OF RIGHTS. 

The political state of the realm was as low as that of the 
moral. One hundred years before, a shameful surrender of 
rights had been made. A conflict was on at that time 
between the king and the Pope. The king resented the 
interference of the Popes in the affairs of the state, and 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


53 


attempted a limitation of Papal power in England. The 
Pope got in his reply by shutting out the entire kingdom 
from the favors of heaven, and promptly issuing an edict 
dethroning the king, and freeing his subjects from alle- 
giance to him. It was a bold stroke, but the Pope was driven 
to desperation. He had first and final power over England, 
and the king was only his vassal. To rebel against his au- 
thority, was to be regarded as high crime against the uni- 
versal ruler of the earth. He was gaining power elsewhere ; 
he must not lose it in England. The nation was put under 
the disfavor of heaven, and the king was placed under an 
edict. To show the people the disfavor of heaven and en- 
force the edict against the king, an army was necessary. 
No matter, if Christ had given directions that his kingdom 
should not be advanced by swords in the hands of his dis- 
ciples, the Pope had usurped the authority of Christ, and 
he had to move to the conquest by armies. The king of 
France was not in love with the king of England. Philip 
Augustus was king of France. The Pope offered him the 
English crown, if he would drive the English king from 
Windsor Castle. Imbecile that he was. King John, of 
England, at once resigned his kingdom to the Pope, and to 
his successors in office, and so England became a province 
of the Papal government. 

The same cowardly act of perfidy was to occur presently 
in Ireland. 

WHY THE PAPACY CLAIMS lEELAND. 

This secession of England to the Pope was in the thir- 
teenth century. In the following century, and while Eng- 
land is making an effort to recover her independence, Ire- 
land, by act of her king, is ceded to the Pope, and takes 
upon her the yoke which has been her curse for four hun- 


54 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY, 


dred years. These kings did not own the countries, and 
had no right to give them away. 

EOME OVEEEEACHING IIEESELF. 

After King John, without consulting the nobles, who 
were by the English system a sort of representatives of the 
people, gave the country to the Pope, the humility was 
complete, when the Papal agent kicked the English crown 
from him in contempt. But it was a kick that did more 
than was intended. It hurt hard enough to awaken the 
people. Pome overreached the show of power, as she had 
gone too far in her display of authority. She is now pur- 
suing that course in America. Forcing every man and 
measure to submit to her, she does not see that the reaction 
will be sure to come, when she will have to surrender all 
power she now enjoys by trust. 

Never was a nation more completely humiliated before 
an arrogant power. The nobles, or as then known, the bar- 
ons, were justly indignant that their king should have 
been a party to such disgrace. It led, however, to a great 
step in English liberty. Those freeholders of the large 
English estates, anticipating by a hundred years the rights 
which were to blaze from the pages of the Wyclif Bible, in 
greater light, determined upon limitations to the power of 
the throne. It was the arrogance of priestcraft that led to 
the first blow against kingcraft. The one supported the 
other. The despotic power of the Koman Church must go 
down, so sure as it has gone down in the state. W e will have 
none of it in moral, any more than in civil affairs. Absolute 
authority belongs to no man in this world, and no more in 
religion, than in temporal things. When kingcraft went 
down, it was a prophecy that priestcraft must go down. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


55 


Why should it not be considered to be the duty of Ameri- 
ca in this century, to overthrow priestcraft utterly ? 

GOOD RESULT OF THE PIEDMONT DISPERSION. 

W e must see the touch of the Piedmont freemen in the Eng- 
land of the thirteenth century. Their influence is at work, 
and even opens the way for the Wyclif movement a cen- 
tury later. By driving them from the valleys of the Pied- 
mont, Pome facilitated the spread of the ideas of liberty 
which they held. The Popes have always been as blind in 
their bigotry, as they have been cruel in their rule. They 
have shown as little judgment, as heart, in dealing with the 
world. 

Many of those Waldensian pastors, when they were driv- 
en by Papal persecution from the Piedmont valleys, fled to 
England. They bore witness to their great sentiments of 
moral independence. Their ideas of private rights, and 
civil and religious freedom, were imbibed by many. The 
nobility learned from them, the dangers of unlimited power 
in the hand of king and Pope. Pome is now about to have 
her punishment for crimes against the quiet Piedmont peo- 
ple. Had they been left alone, in their native valleys, 
they would never have thrusted their notions of liberty on 
the nations about them ; but Pome persecuted until they 
reached the shores of England, and now liberty has become 
strong enough, thanks to the tuition of the brave Walden- 
sians, to lift her head, and Pome gets her first blow. 

After the disgraceful secession of King J ohn, the English 
nobles met in conference, and constructed the greatest politi- 
cal document, found between the code of Moses and the Dec- 
laration of the American Independence, that of the Magna 
Charta. The Pope did it. It was to conserve the people 
against the Popes. A new consignment of liberties came in 


56 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


witli it, to secure the people against the Romish hierarchy. 
On the meadows of Runnymede they forced the king to give 
his signature. It was a great day in the history of English 
liberties. The dawn was soon to come. This was all in the 
thirteenth century. 

A COMMON GAME OF PAPAL HYPOCRISY. 

The enactment of this excellent and majestic constitution 
of popular rights subdued the Papal policy very much. It 
was a part of her diplomacy to remain quiet for a time, 
while the indignation of the people should be given time to 
pass over. The Pope thought it not best to press the pay- 
ment of the hateful tribute money in England, for a season. 
The Papal treasurj^ could do without it for a time, rather 
than all the time. The English had to be soothed for a 
while. Indeed, under the rise of the nobles, and the in- 
struction of the Waldensian pastors, there were imminent 
signs that the English people might withdraw entirely from 
under the Pope. They had tasted the waters of relief from 
Papal taxation, and they were refreshed by spending money 
on home improvements. They had scented the air of free- 
dom from Papal dictation, and they were becoming danger- 
ously united, and dangerously strong, in opposition to all 
Papal rule. Rome was now to play a game of deception 
and hypocrisy. And so through the latter part of the thir- 
teenth century the English were left largely to their own 
ways. 

Rome is the arch-deceiver of history. She oppresses un- 
til the people, driven to desperation, rise in their power and 
threaten to throw her out of all power ; then she will turn 
and profess the most intense loyalty, patriotism and good 
intentions, and the people are satisfied, and go on nursing 
the viper into new favor and power. Rome has never lifted 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


57 


one of these vouchers of good faith. She has never kept 
a promise of her good intentions. Just now we find her 
given to I this ]professed good-will to everything American. 
She loves the fiag she cursed ; she fondles the Bible she 
burned ; she vows her obedience to the laws she has been 
breaking ; she grows furious in her grandiloquence over the 
liberty she has been suppressing ; she declares toleration to 
the schools she has been blaspheming ; she lauds the con- 
stitution she has been subverting ; she is even ready to fra- 
ternize with Protestants she has been damning. Let Amer- 
ica not be deceived. It is all a lie, and her history for fourteen 
centuries furnishes the proof that it is a lie. But she will go 
on, deceiving the very elect. 

TWO POPES AT ONE TIME. 

We return to the England of the fourteenth century. 
There is a division of the authority of the Papal Church. 
One headquarters was removed to Avignon, France. The 
other remained at Kome. Two Popes were trying to rule 
the world at once, and spent most of their time thundering 
at each other. They were both infallible, or claimed to be, 
which is the same, as Rome is all claim. Money was needed 
in the Papal treasury. So soon as the money power is ex- 
hausted, the Roman Church goes down. She buys her way ; 
with money she can bribe, and with money she can purchas 
force. If proper legislation, against the enormous money 
power of the bishops, were enacted by Congress, the Roman 
Church would soon lose her evil power in American poli- 
tics. 

NEW PAPAL DEMAND ON ENGLAND. 

Money was badly needed when the treasury became bank- 
rupt, through the Papal divisions. And Pope Urban Y. 
issued, from Avignon, his demand upon the English king for 


58 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


renewal of the payment of the tribute money. All arrear- 
ages, covering more than a century, were to be paid also. 
But Edward III. was king now. Parliament declared the 
original transaction entirely unconstitutional, and directed 
the king to refuse the payment. It was a valuable declara- 
tion of rights, and it indicated an uncompromising defiance 
to the temporal power of the Pope. The issue was clearly 
drawn between the Pope, and the king and Parliament of 
England, and the contest was to be for the supremacy in 
England, and it had to do with the state, quite as much as 
with the Church. For one-half century England was given 
repose from Papal interference, in her money matters. The 
people thought the claim of temporal rule w^as over for all 
time. It was not ; nor is it in this country. The Roman 
Church is in great anxiety to pose in strict conformity to 
American institutions. It is only to quiet the people. She 
must be herself, and the Roman Church, in heart and spirit, 
must take a hand in temporal affairs. 

A MORNING STAR OF THE REFORMATION. 

Conditions are now opportune for a revival of religion 
among the English people. The extremity of man is the 
opportunity of God. God had prepared his man. He is 
ready to step forth. 

Let us look at him. He is called the “ Morning Star of 
the Reformation.” He deserves the title, because he played 
that part in the religious awakening of the modern centuries. 
He stands in the door- way of the Reformation period. In 
the history of religious thought we may divide the centuries 
something like this : the Dark Period, reaching from the 
eighth century to the twelfth ; the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries were a Transition Period ; the fourteenth, fifteenth 
and sixteenth centuries constituted the Reformation ; the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


seventeentli and eighteenth centuries formed the Recon- 
struction Period ; and the overpowering nineteenth century, 
stamps itself as the Aggressive and Missionary Period, 
w hi^h is so greatly to determine the spirit of the next two 
centuries. 

The j)eriod we are now considering is in the very dawn of 
the Reformation period, the fourteenth century. 

God has his hand on the right man, and he steps forth 
with a great light in his soul. His name is John Wyclif. 
He was born at Spresswell, near old Richmond. It is a 
country of rocky highlands, and meadow-like lowlands. 
Streams and waterfalls beautify the landscape. Sir Walter 
Scott, in one of his poems, has glorified the place with his 
incomparable poetic description — 

The cliffs that rear their haughty heads 
High o’er the river’s darksome bed, 

Were now all naked, wild and gray. 

Now waving all with greenwood spray ; 

Here trees to every crevice clung. 

And o’er the dell their branches hung ; 

And there, all splinter’d and uneven. 

The shivered rocks ascend to heaven ; 

Oft, too, the ivy swath’d their breast. 

And wreathed its garland round their crest; 

Or from the spires bade loosely flare 
Its tendrils in the middle air. 

Such, and more wild, is Greta’s roar. 

And such the echoes from her shore. 

And so the ivied banner’s gleam. 

Waved wildly o’er the brawling stream. 

MEITTAL AND MORAL INFLUENCE OF COUNTRY SCENES. 

Such country scenes never fail to impress, in the right 
direction, the mind of the thoughtful boy. Nature’s page 


60 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


is a poem of God’s rytlimic making. The winds among the 
trees chant many a hymn of praise ; the fleeting shadows 
solemnly tell of an equally fleeting life ; the gracefully flow- 
ing brook murmurs of the stream of life, and the ocean of 
eternity into which it passses ; beautiful country moonlight 
nights prompt to great thoughts, and persuade to noble ef- 
forts. The boy who is not born in the country is to be 
pitied. Our very best and greatest leaders in progress, have 
mostly come from the village and country life. Nature, as 
well as Nature’s God, helped to make Wyclif. He was no 
less fitted by nature than he was called of God. All things 
work together for good, for those who are called to the 
leadership of great movements. The country life and coun- 
try scenes round about Spresswell must be taken into ac- 
count, in understanding the preparation of this great man 
for his great work. Perhaps we would reverence God more, 
if we would admire nature more. 

DEFOEMED AND DWAEFED SPECIMENS OF PEOTESTANTISM. 

Amidst such environments Wyclif was devoted to study, 
and his boyhood was made serious with spells of deep re- 
flection. In life he was almost ideal in blamelessness ; 
while faith in God, and resoluteness of purpose, distin- 
guished him. He was learned, cool and steadfast. In char- 
acter, he was austere in manner, and in piety quite above 
reproach. He felt that the Papal power was corrupt, and 
was used to the injury of the country. Having this convic- 
tion, he was burdened with the responsibility of an honest 
man. No maudlin sentiments, lest he create some discus- 
sion and strife, disturbed him. His conscience was awak- 
ened to highest duty, and he was not perturbed by the fear 
that some would not want to disturb the quiet ways of the 
country. Faint-hearted Protestant clergy, in our country^ 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


61 


may yet have to define their position. If Rome be an evil, 
always and everywhere, how can silence on the issue be jus- 
tified ? A man had better quit the front than lead astray. 
In these days, those who are raised up to council and lead, 
and yet keep quiet, are foes to country, and no vital help 
to evangelical religion. These are times which require men, 
and we see little use for deformed and dwarfed specimens 
of either Protestantism or patriotism. The fool may be 
laughed out of his duty, and the coward frightened out of 
it. But the true, brave leader will do his duty, and will 
not reason why. 

Wyclif was discipled by the spirit of truth, yet he 
was animated by the warmest feelings of benevolence. He 
spent twenty-five years in the stormy atmosphere of ex- 
citing controversy, lashing with uncompromising severity 
the agents of Rome. He was the most influential man of 
his century, in English religious life. While he stands 
with Chaucer, Shakespere and Milton in English literature, 
he was the first to see that the spirit of the day wanted a 
new dress to be clothed in. 

As we study the elements of his remarkable work, and 
then reflect upon the conditions of our day and country, 
we wish that we had a few among us of Wyclifian charac- 
ter. What a stirring of the dry bones it would make, to 
be sure ! What a quaking of the fondling henchmen of 
Rome, ’tis true ! But what a purification of the befouled 
waters of state, and what an elevation of the tone of nation- 
al honor there would follow. 

THE GEEAT CONFLICT IN PAELIAMENT. 

At four different periods in his career he stands out with 
a distinctness deserving notice. One was when Parliament 
was swept with the storm of the conflict, raging between 


62 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


King Edward and the Pope. The question was a single 
one, and simple enough to make the issue sharply defined. 
Should one-twelfth of the revenue of the kingdom be 
deemed sufficient for the purposes of the government, while 
the other eleven-twelfths must be sent to Rome to build 
up a corrupt foreign power, pretending to rule in matters 
of conscience, and whose agents had thievishly gotten pos- 
session of one -half of the land of the kingdom ? Should 
England be considered able to conduct her own internal af- 
fairs? or must the temporal power of the Pope be continued ? 
It was a great issue. The Papal party was desperate, while 
the patriots of England were determined. 

That same right to temporal possession is hidden away 
in Rome’s secret policy with this country. Shall we have 
English history repeated in America ? 

THE GREAT PETITION BEFORE PARLIAMENT. 

Wyclif came up from Oxford to London, to attend the fa- 
mous Parliament, in which the battle was to be fought, which 
was to decide if the Pope was to rule England. W yclif be- 
gins the conflict. There is something grandly sublime, as 
he confronts the Papal power in Parliament, and gives the 
first blow of a struggle which is to last a hundred years. 
He presents a petition to Parliament and the king, plead- 
ing for their assent to the Word of God, as a precedent of 
rule over the Pope, in all affairs of the kingdom ; that all 
persons proceeded against, for reason of their religion, may 
have liberty to accept and follow the more perfect law of 
Christ ; that the tithes be bestowed according to their prop- 
er use, for the maintenance of the poor ; that no one should 
be imprisoned on account of excommunication. Great princi- 
ples were embodied in this document. It was a state paper 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


63 


wliich was full of promise to the cause of civil and religious 
liberty. It deprived the Pope of any right of lordship over 
the conscience. It took from him the right to levy a tax 
on the country, at his will. It declared the freedom of re- 
ligious thought. It established a right of citizenship, that 
was not to be lost by any Papal act of excommunication, 
which hitherto had been such a threat over the heads of the 
ignorant. It made legal the right to an open Bible, and 
this was one of the most important acts ever brought into a 
legislative body. Here is to be found the very day-spring of 
religious liberty in English thought. By this bill of W yclif ’ s 
the monks were to be cut short in their collecting tours for 
the poor, by a provision for the equitable maintenance of 
the poor. The order of Mendicants in England never re- 
covered from his terrific blow. Yes, it was a great piece of 
proposed legislation. 

Wyclif was all-powerful in this Parliament, which in point 
of fact conducted the impeachment trial of the temporal 
pretentions of Homan Papacy. When it opened. Papal 
power and arrogance were at their height, and the political 
ambition of the Pope was at its meridian ; but when it ad- 
journed, the Papacy had met its first defeat in any parlia- 
mentary body. It was a great victory in this seemingly 
irrepressible conflict between Rome and right. That Par- 
liament was a big chapter in the history of religious liberty. 
It so met the approval of the people that it has always 
been called the “Good Parliament.” Both political and 
moral reform had taken a long step. 

FIRST ATTEMPT AT THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 

A second controversy in the life of W yclif, which marked 
an epoch in religious history, was this : The first attempt 
made, looking to the separation of church and state, was in- 


64 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


augurated by him. He saw the corruption of religion, and 
the peril of the state, both resulting from the union of these 
two supreme authorities in one man. From every point 
conceivable, he argues against the Church possessing any 
property, except what is necessary to carry on the work for 
which it exists. The abuses which had grown up, on ac- 
count of the property possessions of the monks, greatly 
aided him. He soon had the most terrific storm beating 
upon him. It culminated at a meeting at St. Paul’ s, in Lon- 
don, and which had broken into a mob, but for the presid- 
ing bishop dissolving it. 

And Wyclif won the day. Disestablishment began, and 
has gone on from that time, until the opinion has generally 
prevailed, in the Protestant churches, that the affairs of the 
Church should be wholly distinct from the affairs of the 
state. For the purity and unworldliness of religion, this 
was one of the most significant moves ever made. The 
Papal head was bitterly opposed to it, and is so still. The 
most determined efforts have been made during the last few 
years to reunite these two powers, and of course make the 
Papal authority the dominant one, in both Church and state. 

ATTEMPT WITH US TO EEUNITE CHURCH AXH STATE. 

The effort to re-form the union of Church and state, has 
not been so active for a century as at present. It broods no 
good. It is a strange fact, that as the first half of this cen- 
tury came to a close, it witnessed the decline of the political 
power of the Papacy throughout the world. But as the 
second half of this century draws to a close, the political 
dominance of the Papacy is the most troublesome question 
confronting the statecraft of the world. The whole power 
of the diplomacy of the Papal court is bent to bring to- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


65 


gether Church and state, and with the latter subjected to 
the former. Our state legislatures, and general Congress, 
have a task to perform pertaining to this, which the patriot- 
ism of the country will not permit to be postponed much 
longer. 

WYCLIF’S way for circulating the BIBLE. 

A third great accomplishment in the life of this master 
workman, was his circulation of the Scriptures. He laid 
the foundations for great things, when he trained devout 
young men to go about the country, teaching the people the 
Holy Scriptures. He sent forth these preachers of the 
Word, without gold or silver in the purse, holding that the 
laborers were worthy of their hire. They went from house 
to house, and traveled from village to village, and in the 
open doors, on the street corners, by the wayside, they read 
the Bible, and instructed in morals and religion. The whole 
country was leavened. It was a strange message, and a new 
thing the people heard, and they listened with all the in- 
terest begotten of novelty, but as well with a genuine long- 
ing to know the things good for their souls, and as well for 
their country. 

The spirit of God accompanied this lay preaching, and 
many were converted. Many more had their understand- 
ing prepared for a slower process of grace, but none the less 
effectual was it on that account. Whole communities be- 
came concerned, while the entire land was most profoundly 
moved to higher inclinations, and at once set in, stronger 
still, the trend away from the teaching of Home. The 
learned preferred to go to the Wyclif Bible readers for com- 
fort, rather than to the regular priests. When they be- 
came sick they did not go to the monks, but to the travel- 
ing preachers of the Word, for prayer. God honored his 


66 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Word, and brought the people to the light. These young 
men went about awakening, reclaiming, and converting sin^ 
ners. It was a primitive sort of itinerancy, which over four 
hundred years later was taken up by the Methodists, and 
developed into their wonderfully popular and successful 
system of pastoral itinerancy, which has been such a power 
in modern evangelism. 

This popular and simple teaching of the Bible purified 
life in all its streams, and lifted the nation up to higher 
standards of thought. Free laws, a larger sense of justice 
in the courts, greater regard for the claims of the conscience, 
marked improvements in customs and conditions, better 
roads, homes and clothing, a new impulse to learning, and a 
higher type of literature, all these, and more, resulted from 
this Bible instruction of the people. Wyclifs influence 
was to be the hope of the nation. 

HIS GEEATEST WORK. 

But the greatest work of his life, and one of the most 
eminent deeds ever performed by a Christian scholar, was 
the task of translating the Bible, from the Latin, into the 
common language of the English people, wherein all classes 
could read the Word of God in their own tongue. Under 
the direction of John Wyclif, the English people began to 
see and to feel that — 

‘ A glory gilds the sacred page.” 

This translation of the Bible was the first important step 
in the course of English liberties, since the charter of Kun- 
nymede, a century and a quarter before. It at once became 
the corner-stone of English law. It determined, as by the 
authority of a text-book, rules for the administration of jus- 
tice in the courts. The teachings of the Bible became the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


67 


foundation of the comnioii law. The Bible soon came to be 
inwrought into the standards of English thought ; and to 
such an extent was it regarded as giving expression to the 
highest form of virtue and Justice, that it became, in alj mat- 
ters of law, the book of appeal, touching disputes in private 
and public morals. It so infused its vital spirit into the 
very heart of English law, that Sir Mathew Hale, in an 
important decision of the Supreme Court of England, de- 
cided that, “Christianity was a part of the common law of 
the land.” This was one of the most important decisions 
over rendered from a high court. The effect on the legal 
thought of the world has been prodigious. The Wyclif 
JBible became the greatest agent for civilization ever known 
in the land. It cleared the atmosphere in morals, gave 
more prominence to the integrities of life, and added im- 
measurably to justice, as between man and man. As the 
light came in, the people saw, and seeing, they acted. 
Monkery was seen to be something at enmity with the best 
hopes and interests of men, and it was made to slowly re- 
treat before the increasing knowledge of the people. 

BEFOEE THE AGE OF PRINTING. 

Wyclif says : “ The Bible is a charter written by God ; 

it is God’s gift to us ; to be ignorant of the Scriptures is to 
be ignorant of Christ ; the whole of Scripture is one word 
of God.” He says that his labor was to the end, that the 
Holy Bible might be known to the people ; that men might 
ascertain for themselves the truth, by having the Word of 
God in a language which they fully understood. 

Yet this was before the age of printing, and all copies had 
to be made with the pen. Still, multitudes read the Wyclif 
Bible. It was a saying, that if two persons were met 
on the road, one was a follower of Wyclif. The cost of a 


68 


THE ROMAN PAPACY 


copy of the Bible was two hundred and forty-five dollars. 
Yet it was secured and read with eagerness by the great 
mass of the people. 

The.man was taken, but his work was done. It was well 
done. It was to bring forth a hundred-fold. Milton may 
not be charged with extravagance when he says : ‘ ‘ Had it 

not been for Wyclif, neither the Bohemian Huss and 
Jerome, nor the name of Luther, nor of Calvin, had ever 
been known.” This same high-bred bard, in a sort of 
spiritual rapture, addresses the English reformer in these 
lines of rythmic beauty and power : 

Servant of God, well done ; well hast thou fought 
The better fight ; who single hast maintained 
Against revolted multitudes the cause 
Of truth ; in word mightier than they in arms : 

And for the testimony of truth hast borne 
Universal reproach, far worse to bear 
Than violence, for it was all thy care 
To stand approved in sight of God, though worlds 
Judged thee perverse. 

POWER OF THE BIBLE IN ENGLISH CIVILIZATION. 

In this rapid review of the first great English reformation, 
we have not failed to note one thing of lasting force on 
modern thought : The W ord of God, the power of salvation 
unto man, is no less the power of reform unto a nation. In 
this famous struggle in England against the Papacy, the 
absolute authority of the Bible w'as maintained. It was 
upheld as the supreme and perfect rule of faith and morals. 
It was held to be the standard of faith and duty. English 
citizenship was trained out of the Bible. Englishmen dis- 
covered the mighty horizon, which outlines the border of 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


69 


popular rights, while sailing about in the deep waters of the 
Bible. 

In the enactment of the Magna Charter, the mud-sills of 
England’s national greatness were placed ; but nothing was 
done to build thereon, until the people discovered in the 
W yclif Bible the integrities of a better citizenship, and saw 
the light of individual rights. The reform came in with 
waters running high ; and if they dashed high and with 
anger rolled against the rocks, which too long had held 
them back, ’tis no surprise. The sentiments of the people 
favored the retention of large sums of money, which hither- 
to had been claimed by the Pope of Home, and used it for 
internal improvements of the country, and the relief of the 
poor. The large landed domain held by the monks, amount- 
ing to more than one-half of the entire property of the 
kingdom, was restored to the people. The higher culture of 
the land conduced to a higher culture of the people. And 
the returns, from the cultivation of the land, increased the 
revenue of the nation several hundred per cent. 

The wisdom of the Bible dispelled the ignorance of the 
mind, and the righteousness of the Christ of the Bible, ex- 
posed the popular vices to every awakened conscience. The 
people began to breathe from the heart, and it was a breath 
of life they took. It was a life, than ever before, deeper 
in the stronghold of its moral fastnesses, broader in its out- 
look of generous impulses, and higher in the elevation and 
clearness of its purposes. 

The ethics of Moses, the judgments of Jeremiah, the high 
idealities of Isaiah, the heroic faith of Joshua, the impas- 
sioned eloquence of Peter, the profound spiritual philoso- 
phy of Paul, the ecstatic visions of John, and, above every 
other thing, the wonderful power, love and truth set forth 
in the teaching, and revealed in the life of the Christ, 


70 


THE ROMAN PAPAGT. 


wrought a transformation in the English people, and they 
became a people of one Book, and that Book was the Bible. 
The Tyndale and Coverdale and Cranmer Bibles of the six- 
teenth century, were the fruit of the Wyclif Bible of the 
fourteenth century. The great British Bible society is the 
grandchild of the Wyclif Bible. 

The Bible became the headlight of English civilization. 
The laws of the realm contain the larger part of the Deca- 
logue. Blackstone, in his commentary on English law, lays 
claim to the principles of the Bible, as the basic stone of 
English jurisprudence. The decisions rendered by the 
Supreme Bench of England, the most scholarly and exhaust- 
ive legal opinions, issuing from any seat of justice in the 
world, are interlocked with the code of Moses and Jesus, 
and make frequent quotations from the ethics of the Scrip- 
tures. 

It has not been so many years since a deputation of Afri- 
can royalty, bearing costly gifts to England’s Queen, was 
received in the Windsor halls. They said to the Queen, 
that they had been directed by their prince to inquire for 
the secret of England’ s greatness. Victoria sent back with 
them a handsome copy of the Bible, with this message : 
“Tell your prince that this Book is the secret of England’s 
greatness.” 

The influence of the Bible upon the literature of England 
has been stupendous. Literary merit has never been so 
stamped with the genius of any other book. Milton’s im- 
mortal “Paradise Lost,” with thought as classic and style 
as lofty as found in Dante, and without the sombre gloom 
of the Latin poet, is a flower plucked from the Bible. John 
Bunyan caught a shaft of the same light, and his pictur- 
esque imagination gave birth to that fascinating piece of 
religious allegory, “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” The Bible 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


71 


was used for turuing on the light. Hugh Latimer saw it, 
and in the pulpits of England he forged it into such 
thunderbolts of power, and he wove it into such habili- 
ments of truth, that the second English Heformation came 
in with such irresistible and overlapping waves of influence, 
that they were not spent until their spray baptized another 
order of men on the coast of Massachusetts, on the shores 
of the James, and on the banks of the Schuylkill. Yes, 
the light was coming on, and in its radiance Geoffrey 
Chaucer saw the possibilities of a robust and pure litera- 
ture ; and he set to himself the task to father the English 
language, as Moses was the father of the Hebrew language 
and literature, and as Homer was of the Greek, and Luther 
of the German. 

INFLUENCE OF BACON’S PHILOSOPHY. 

And yet another light is seen coming up from the beacon 
fires of the English Bible. What is it? Francis Bacon 
steps out. He catches the quivering light in his brawny 
brain. He sits down to think, and then rises to address the 
ages with the grand salutation: “Theology is the crown 
and queenliest of all our sciences.” And then he appointed 
to himself the task of inaugurating a new system of phil- 
osophy, which alike uncovered the mysteries of nature, , 
swept the whole key-board of the sciences, and opened the 
long-looked-for path to be traveled by that greatest giant 
of modern civilization, inventive genius. For a thousand 
years philosophy had been nothing more than mere scholas- 
ticism, furnishing a play-ground for vain rhetorics and 
foolish sophistries. Bacon reconstructs its methods, and 
wheels it into line to serve the most practical needs of the 
world. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


72 • 

THE HIGHWAY OF PROGKESS. 

A new liigliway is opened np for progress ; moral improve- 
ment is as sure as material advance ; and another epoch 
opens in the history of thought, and a new period begins in 
the course of civilization. With the English Bible in his 
hand, and the principles of it in the heart, Keplar became 
one of the founders of modern astronomy, and IN'ewton was 
made the most distinguished of the natural philosophers. 
Shakspere, with a brow as if moulded by the perfect hand 
of genius, and eyes like stars in a mist, found his way into 
the deep and wonderful heart of the Bible, and gave the 
rare jewels of the sacred Book a setting in the fine gold of 
his high dramatic power. So the verdict may come in, that 
the long roll of brilliant leaders in English literature, phil- 
osophy and statesmanship must be saluted, in the light that 
breaks from the sacred page. Eminent has been the in- 
fluence of the Bible ujion the English conscience. Wyclif, 
and his school of Bible teachers, took special pains to pre- 
sent the Bible as the standard and measure of duty and obli- 
gation, no less than of faith and virtue. As a result of 
which, if we call up the most illustrious names which have 
become framed in the greatest benevolences of the centur- 
ies, we must honor England above all countries. Hearing 
the call of duty to spend and be spent for others, John 
Eliot left the halls of Cambridge, and became the apostle 
to the North American Indians, for whom he translated the 
Bible ; first having to invent an Indian alphabet and con- 
struct an Indian language. John Howard, whose life was 
not made heroic by catching the spirit of the classic heroes 
and sages, but that of the apostles, patriarchs and prophets 
of old, built up for himself a system of duty and life on the 
rules, doctrines and moralities of sacred lore. He appears 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


*73 


to be the first of the great English gentry who regarded 
wealth as a stewardship, and to be accounted for unto God 
and man. His plan was to use the surplus income of each 
year to the purposes of charity. He took the diameter of 
the prison cruelties of Europe, and circumnavigated the in- 
humanities practiced on the unfortunate classes, upon which 
had fallen the hand of Justice ; and he did it, that he might 
raise English opinion up to the point where it would de- 
mand a reform. 

THE BIBLE IH BEHEVOLEHCE AHD ART. 

The slave trade would still have its shackles about the 
nation to-day, had it not been for the Bible, which turnejd 
the rich and ambitious young man of six and twenty, into 
an apostle of philantlirophy, who was to organize the senti- 
ment of the country for the overthrow of the slave trade. It 
was W illiam W ilberf orce. Stephen Grellet introduced Eliz- 
abeth Fry to prison visitation, and she carried a joy so glad, 
and a hope so high, into those dark chambers of misfortune 
and crime, that the English prisons often became schools of 
integrity and nurseries to a better life. Queen Charlotte 
was a disciple, and Princess Victoria, now Queen, was a pu- 
pil in the practical philanthropies at the feet of Elizabeth 
Fry. Sir Humphry Davy, taking all things in view, the 
greatest benefactor nursed on the bosom of science, knew 
the light by which he walked, while he was hunting for 
the lights of nature. Summing up the reflections of a life- 
time he said : If I might choose what I might think the 

most useful, I should prefer a firm, spiritual faith.” 

The grandest creations of English art are the out-put of 
ideas and inspirations which have entered the mind, and 
electrified the soul by way of the Bible. Sir Christopher 


74 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Wren read his Bible, and then went to the building of St. 
Paul’s cathedral. Its very dome, as you stand in the grand 
nave, seems hanging over you like a sheltering benediction 
of the eternities. 

\ And going beyond the shores of England, we call up the 
nanle of the world’s greatest painter, Baphsel Angelo. He 
had been reading his Hew Testament. And with the glori- 
fication of its truth in his mind, and the gorgeous imagery 
of its prefiguration in his soul, he paints the picture of the 
Transfiguration. And though almost four hundred years 
are gone down the path by his grave, the Transfiguration, 
a Bible painting, is recognized as the masterpiece of art 
in the world. Ludwig Yon Beethoven, from whom nigh 
everything that is great in modern music has tak^n its 
form, or its inspiration, holding the place in the field of 
music that Shakspere does in that of the drama, read the 
Bible for the deeps of his soul to be stirred, and then created 
such melodies swelling into power, and harmonies en- 
riching the soul, as seemed almost beyond the possibility of 
artistic expansion. The most pathetic piece ever composed 
is Beethoven’s Solemn Mass. 

Truly the Bible contains the living truth, living in the 
mind, constantly awakens fresh ideas and uncovers new 
discoveries ; living in the deeper joy of the heart and the 
higher hope of the soul. Truth dies not ; it may be burned, 
but like the bush of Horeb, it is not consumed ; it may fall 
in the street and be trodden under foot of men, even be put 
in the grave, yet it is not dead. It lives, and is free. It is 
the seed of the kingdom of heaven. 

It is proper that we be reminded of the opinion of our 
own Webster: “If we abide by the principles taught in 
the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to pros- 
per ; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


75 


aiitliority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may 
overwhelm us, and bury all our glory in profound ob- 
scurity.” 

Rome’s treatment of the bible. 

This is the book which the Roman Papacy has pursued 
with implacable hatred, and destroyed with constant fury. 
She will not, and she dare not, tolerate the Scriptures. 
They teach the world the falsity, and the evil, and the peril 
of Rome in every civilization. Temporal power is directly 
condemned by the teaching of the New Testament. The 
wealth, palace grandeur and gaudy show of the Vatican 
throne appear sickening to the heart, after reading a few 
paragraphs of the simple, humble and unpretentious life of 
Christ. The interposition oi an order of priests, between a 
man and his Maker, is shown to be wholly fabulous by 
Bible teaching. The severe handling which tyranny and 
despotism of rule meet with, in the Gospels of Christ, soon 
liberates the mind from the authority of tradition, and stim- 
ulates it to a healthy revolt. Hence appears abundant 
reason why Rome must prevent, where she has the power, 
the general use of the Bible. It is her policy of self-preser- 
vation. 

The great proposition, underlying the Wyclifian Refor- 
mation, was that the authority of the Scriptures was inde- 
pendent of any other authority. What, independent of 
the Pope ? There was the reason for Rome’s fight. This 
was a direct blow. Rome dare not be quiet when it falls. 
The Popes thundered, the bishops contended, the priests 
abused, and the dupes of Rome persecuted. The policy of 
the Popes pertaining to a free Bible was settled upon, and 
she has not departed from it. Rome’s treatment of the 
Bible has been that of suppression. The open Bible must 


76 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


not be permitted. A Pope may, in a letter of sophistry to 
his bishops, recommend the reading of the Bible to his 
priests ; but no Pope has ever issued an order, or given an 
invitation to the laity of the Roman Catholic Church to 
procure, keep in the house, or read the Bible. No Pope 
dare do this. The day the Roman Catholic people are given, 
throughout the world, this charter of their rights and liber- 
ties, the Papacy falls, to rise no more. A Pope did once in a 
moment of forgetfulness bless a translation of a Bible 
about to be published for general circulation among the 
Catholics of France. But he did not accompany that bless- 
ing with an invitation to read. He did not expect the 
French people would care to read the Bible. He was mis- 
taken. To his dismay the effect, as the people read, was so 
disastrous to his power, that he hurriedly sent after it a 
curse, and accompanied it with the usual threat of pun- 
ishment. 


CONDEMNED BY COUNCILS AND POPES. 

In 1229, the Council of Toulouse issued a decree prohib- 
iting the people from possessing the Scriptures. And Hal- 
1am tells us it ‘‘ was frequently repeated on subsequent oc- 
casions.” In 1411, the Archbishop or Canterbury, and his 
suffragan bishops, addressed a memorial to the Pope, John 
XXIII., charging Wyclif with giving the Scriptures to the 
people. In an Encyclical of Pope Pius YII. is the sen 
tence: ‘‘It is evident, from experience, that the holy 
Scriptures, where circulated in the vulgar tongue, have 
produced more harm than benefit.” 

In 1824, Leo XII. declared that publications of transla- 
tions of the Bible are in “contempt of the tradition of the 
fathers, and in opposition to the celebrated decree of the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


77 


Council of Trent, which prohibits the holy Scriptures from 
being made common.” 

In 1844, Pope Gregory XVI. says: ‘‘We confirm and 
renew the decrees, delivered in former times, against the 
publication, distribution, reading and possession of books 
of the holy Scriptures, translated into the vulgar tongue.” 

In 1864, Pope Pius IX. re-afiirmed, in a special encyclical, 
these decrees and bulls. In the face of all this authority it 
is the lowest demagogism for Roman ’Catholics to say that 
Church does not prohibit the circulation and reading of the 
Scriptures. 

The power and authority of the Romish Church has for 
centuries prohibited the Bible in Mexico. It has only been 
since Protestant missionaries entered that country, that 
the people knew what the Bible was. They thought it was 
a sin to read it. Many Bibles have been burned, and those 
who sought to circulate them punished, in that country. 
The coarsest barbarities have befallen pious men and women 
for giving the Bible to the ignorant natives. In Mexico the 
Bible was a proscripted book for two hundred and fifty 
years. 


AN OEDEE AGAINST LIBEETY. 

While the author is engaged with these pages, the fol- 
lowing notice has been taken from the walls of Leon, Ni- 
caragua, where it was publicly posted, by direction of the 
Romish Church : “The wolf of Protestantism has found 
its way in our midst. A minister of the sect of Luther and 
Voltaire, accompanied by various mercenaries, are busy 
selling in the streets Protestant Bibles, and a false book of 
the Gospels. Do not buy these books, scorn these propa- 
gandists of a sect. Do not allow your religion to be harmed 


78 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


by these knight err ants of evil. Let us hurl them away. 
Liberty of worship does not exist here, nor that of these 
peddlers of adulterated Bibles. JTicaragua belongs to God ; 
Protestantism to the Devil. Away with them.” 

This is the position of Rome, wherever she uncovers her 
heart and bares it to the world. What she does in Nicar- 
agua, she will yet do in Boston, Washington and Chicago, 
if her right of arbitrary rule, in matters of religious liberty, 
is not taken from her. It is an arrogant and assumed right. 
It has not been conferred by any recognized authority, nor 
is it derived from any sense of justice. This right must be 
overthrown, or Rome will overthrow us. 

OPPOSITION TO THE BIBLE IN SPAIN AND FRANCE. 

It has been during the present generation that the priests 
in Spain threatened the life of persons selling the Bible. 
They taught the people to believe that such persons were 
sorcerers and witches. Finally they prohibited the sale 
altogether, and sent to prison those who were engaged in 
it. 

The most conspicuous instance of the enmity of the Pope 
for the Bible has occurred in France. The learned Lasserre 
had written a book, highly conducive to Papal legends, 
and the Pope loved him. One day Lasserre came, by acci- 
dent, onto a copy of the four Gospels — or was it by provi- 
dence he made the discovery ? He became entranced with 
the simple narratives of Jesus of Nazareth. He thought 
these Gospels could be made a popular book for the French 
people. The Pope could trust Lasserre, so the Lasserre 
Bible had the Pope’ s blessing and approval. In a short 
while twenty-five editions were sold. The French were 
reading. As they read they drifted more and more from 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


79 


the old time adherence to the Pope. This was enough. 
The decree of condemnation was issued, just one year and 
fifteen days from the date of the Pope’s letter of approval 
and blessing. The decree declares that ‘‘our Most Holy 
Lord, Pope Leo XIII.,” prohibits any one to publish, read 
or possess a copy, and to turn all copies in existence over 
to be burned. This is very strange. An infallible Pope 
gives his infallible blessing and approval to a certain book, 
and in fifteen days and a year, the same infallible Pope gives 
his infallible curse and disapproval to that same book. In 
the decree of malediction the Bible is described to be a 
‘'‘book of degraded doctrine.” All of this within the last 
six years. Homan Catholics are correct, the Church of 
Home has not changed, and it has not just because it is the 
Church of Home. A Pagan Church, though it have a 
Christian name, is Pagan still. 

Leo XIII., in his late encyclical on the Bible, declares that 
the people cannot understand it without a guide. And 
that the Popes have the only high authority on earth to 
explain it. This is correct, according to the Papal view. 
The Church of Home must continue to oppose the Bible in 
the school, in the home and in the pocket of the devout 
man. We will have no peace with Home until we surren- 
der the Bible utterly, or overthrow the dominion of the 
Popes in this country. Americans must decide which they 
will serve, whether the Lord God, whose throne is by the 
everlasting waters of the invisible rivers of eternity, or the 
Pope, whose throne is on the mud banks of the Tiber. 

But quite recently, some young men undertook to hold 
an out-door religious meeting on the streets of Cork. They 
had a Bible. This was an offense to Homanists. They 
were beaten, covered with the mud of the streets, and as- 
sailed with stones, and their Bible was snatched from their 


80 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


hands and publicly burned. Everywhere it is the same. 
Where Rome has the power she has pursued the Bible with 
consistent, unremitting hostility. 

The Catholic bishops in Brazil have been destroying the 
Bible. And in Mexico they have persecuted with a spirit 
of vengeance, which seems strangely out of line with the 
tolerant drift of nineteenth century thought. 

THE BIBLE AND THE POPES OUT OF AGEEEMENT. 

The colossal organization of the Papacy, which has grown 
up out of the vile debris of paganism, can no more stand the 
Bible than the old paganism could. Rome is opposed to 
the morality of the Bible, as well as its general spirit of 
liberty. Rome holds to the priestly rule, rather than that 
of the Savior. The ethics of the New Testament cannot be 
made to uphold the claims of the Popes. The Bible makes 
every man a freeman ; the Papacy makes every man a serf. 
The Bible says that Christ hath power to forgive sin ; but 
the Papacy hath made the Popes the sole depository of that 
power, and some of them the vilest men on earth. The Bi- 
ble rests the destiny of the dead in the hands of a merciful 
God ; the Papacy has rested that destiny in the keeping of 
greedy priests, who for money will improve that destiny at 
will, and the more money the more improvement. The Bi- 
ble is the High Court wherein we secure the rights of con- 
science ; the Papacy deprives us of any right of private 
judgment, and despoils us of the liberty of free action. No ! 
no ! the Bible and the Papacy never can be brought into 
agreement. 

EOMAN MINOEITY IN ENGLISH-SPEAKING WOELD. 

The English speaking race has grown strong, in a civili- 
zation which has recognized the superlative value of the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


81 


Bible in the hands of the people. In this great English 
speaking race, one out of seven only is a Roman Catholic. 
We should insist on the rule of the six, and not of the one. 
In all the world there are two hundred and fifty million 
professing Protestants, opposed to Rome ; whilst there are 
only one hundred and eighty million subject to her. Shall 
this ignorant and incompetent minority dictate submission 
and debasement to the intelligent and free majority ? Will 
America hold aloft the flaming torch of liberty, fed out of 
the inexhaustible fullness of the Bible, or will she bow to 
the yoke of Rome ? 


TO HUSS 


“The earth has not 
A nobler name than thine shall be. 

The deeds by martial manhood wrought, 

The lofty energies of thought 
The fire of poesy — 

These have but frail and fading honors, — thine 
Shall time into eternity consign. 

^‘Yea, and when thrones shall crumble. 

And human pride and grandeur fall. 

The herald’s line of long renown — 

The mitre and the kingly crown — 

Perishing glories all ! 

The pure devotion of thy generous heart 
Shall live in heaven, of which it was a part/* 


Do Roman teachers doubt 

THEIR OWN SYSTEM? 


According to the best preachers among the Romanists 
— according to their very saints — only one in each thous- 
and is saved. Such a thing was said by St. John Chrys- 
ostom, preaching in the Church which was then becoming 
a Pagan Church. This was the conviction of St. Chrys- 
ostom. And now it is repeated by the majority of Romish 
teachers that only one in a thousand is saved among Ro- 
manists. Gavazzi. 


PART III. 


PAPAL DESOLATIOIST IN BOHEMIA. 

SIDE LIGHTS OH AMERICA. 

Eastward now moves the Reformation light. The light 
that diffused into the dawn came from the east, and focused 
first in the west. Again it moves back to the east, to gather 
accelerated power and brightness. First in one country, 
and then in another, breaks a flood of light. Then ever 
and anon a great cloud of ignorance, superstition and per- 
secution settles over it, and for the time that light seems 
well nigh spent. 

At one time it looks as if an innumerable host was ad- 
vancing, bearing banners of light, before which every 
opposition to civil and religious liberty would retreat in 
dismay and confusion. We look again, and it seems as if 
that mighty host had fallen, crushed to earth by the pro- 
digious power of Rome. 

But presently a cheering sight shall meet our eyes. We 
shall see all Europe lit up, as if by a mighty flame, blaz- 
ing from the JEgean to the Irish sea, and from the Tiber to 
the Rhine. By that light scholars will read and think, 
( 84 ) 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


85 


brave hearts will be inspired to noble deeds, and men will 
look into each other’s eyes and pledge themselves to a holy 
cause. And in that light Rome will read her defeat. But 
like ancient Pagan Rome, it will take her a half thousand 
years to die. 


A CHIVALEIC STORY. 

The story we now have to tell, is one of romance and 
chivalry, no less than of religious reform. It is a tale of 
heroic endeavor, moved by a spirit of patriotism, as well as 
of religious effort in the interest of pure Christianity. Men 
are wanting to liberate themselves, as well as elevate them- 
selves. It is not only a sigh of the heart, but an impulse 
of the brain, that is in ferment. In that fermentation is 
the evolution of great ideas. The location of our present 
story is in central Europe. The time is just subsequent to 
the age of Wyclif. 

CRADLE OF THE REFORMATION ON THE CONTINENT. 

Right in the heart of central Europe lies little Bohemia, 
a rare jewel of the earth, bulwarked on the north by the 
Erzgebirge and Riesengebirge, and on the south by the 
Bohmerwald and Saaver ranges. It contains only twenty 
thousand square miles. Just to the southeast is smaller 
Moravia, containing only nine thousand square miles. In 
religious matters, and the cause of liberty, the history of 
the one is that of the other. The men were different, but 
the spirit and questions were the same. Unmolesting them- 
selves, they protested against being molested. Upright iu 
conduct, and happy in their liberty, they resented any move 
from without, which threatened their religion and their lib- 
erties. They were just such a people as God makes use of 


86 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


for great accomplishments, and they must play an import- 
ant part in history. Together they form the cradle of the 
Keformation on the continent of Europe. 

If the ‘‘Morning Star of the Reformation ” arose in Eng- 
land, the full dawn found its promise in Bohemia. And 
the star that shed its rays in England, furnished the light 
for the dawn .in Bohemia. And it is a romance of provi- 
dence none the less, because it involves a story of love. 
The threads of inconsequential human affairs are sometimes 
woven into the mighty strand of Divine purposes. In 
many a course of love runs a purpose of God. The affairs of 
love sometimes tabernacle the designs of heaven. 

THE TIES WHICH BOUND ENGLAND AND BOHEMIA. 

While the Lord was upholding Wyclif, at the university 
of Oxford, his king, the young and chivalric Richard II., 
went over to Bohemia, and won to his heart and throne 
the fair and good Bohemian princess. Queen Anne. She 
took to England with her a Bible, in her own Bohemian 
tongue. And this devout Queen, from the East, became 
known very soon, at Windsor Castle, for her devotion to 
the Bible. It was an unheard-of trait to be possessed by 
an English Queen, and it was felt by the nation’s conscience. 
The Queen’s example was a light to walk by. The faint- 
hearted took courage, and the strong were cheered. Wyclif 
was stimulated. And later he quoted her example, in pos- 
sessing and reading the Bible in her own language, as a 
sufficient vindication of his translation of the Scriptures 
into the common English tongue, that her subjects might 
enjoy the religious privilege which the Queen possessed. 

And so it came, that while the Bohemian Princess incited 
Wyclif, he awakened Bohemia. By Jerome of Prague, 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


87 


and the Oxford students, Wyclifs writings were carried to 
Bohemia. And by the time of his death they were permeat- 
ing the heart, and awakening the conscience of the Bohe- 
mians. They justly held that what a Princess of their 
own blood adhered to on the English throne, they could 
cherish in their humble homes. The royal example in Eng- 
land became the peasant’s encouragement in Bohemia. 

MIGHTY PRAGUE OH THE ELBE. 

Prague was the capital city of Bohemia, situated on the 
Elbe, which was a great artery of European commerce. It 
was the foremost city in central Europe, and exercised a 
wide and stimulating influence on the social, intellectual 
and religious conditions of the surrounding nations, as well 
as on their political thought and institutions. Here was 
located the eastern residence of the Herman emperor, and 
this gave high standing to the name of Prague among the 
cities of Europe. The university of Prague was, at this 
time, the leading university in Europe, next to that of 
Paris. It was the seat of immense intellectual activities, 
i^ot only the customary questions of abstract philosophy 
were studied and discussed, but the more pressing ones 
which bore directly on the spirit of the age. Eight thou- 
sand students attended its classes. Fertile brains were 
craving knowledge, and God was putting his touch on the 
mental unrest of the age. 

INFLUENCE OF WYCLIF’S BOOKS. 

John Huss was dean and lecturer of the university. He 
was providentially located, to powerfully affect the deep 
currents of thought, of which the university was the centre. 
The writings of Wyclif found a welcome at this school. 


88 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


THese writings were strong productions of argument and 
logic in the field of human rights, in their relation to earthly 
rulers and the divine King. They gave instruction to the 
people to turn to the Bible, as the supreme rule in doc- 
trine, faith and morals, and seek, in that great statement of 
right, their own rights. Without a word of apology they 
denounced, in terms most calculated to receive attention, 
the glaring and monstrous evils which had crept into the 
Church. The personal ambition and political craftiness of 
the Popes were depicted in a way to excite correction. We 
may never know how these books of Wyclif came to be in 
the Prague university. The most natural supposition is, 
that the Oxford students bore copies from England to 
Prague. It was before the day of printing, and all copies 
had to be made by the slow and expensive process of pen. 
In some quiet way, and without the knowledge of Rome, 
they found their way upon the university shelves. The 
students and faculty read them. Bohemia was getting 
ready to have the light turned on. God prepares the hearts 
of nations, as individuals, to be ready to receive great truths. 

We are now in the opening years of the fifteenth century. 
W yclif has been dead for about a quarter of a century. We 
are in Bohemia, which lays in a deep basin, which once held 
the waters of a primeval sea ; about it rise the mountain 
walls like a natural fortress. Foreign Papal intrusion 
found here, in the time of our story, a natural barrier ; and 
within, freedom of religious thought and national piety 
found congenial abode. Huss is the leading man in the 
university of Prague. 

LOW MORAL STANDARD OF ROMISH CLERGY. 

The conditions of Europe were those of political unrest, 
and ecclesiastical corruptions, with a great many people 


THE HOMAN PAPACY. 


89 


€alling for reform in life and doctrine. There was apparent 
a general sentiment of disapproval for the clerical low water 
mark of life and teaching. The priests were not leaders in 
anything, except indolence and immorality. 

It is a queer reflection, that comes to us ever and anon in 
our reading in Eoman Catholic history, that the morals of 
the clergy of that Church, at frequent intervals, run so low. 
The most notorious profligacy perhaps to be met with, in 
the annals of modern civilization, is that of the clerical 
class of the Roman Church, and which the highest authority 
only seems to regret and restrain when it causes public 
scandal. With the court at Rome hidden vices seem half 
virtues. 

This condition confronts us in the United States. The 
proof is conclusive. The facts leak out daily in the great 
city. They tell of shameful immoralities ux)on the part of 
the priests. In some of the leading cities this is of such 
frequent occurrence that surprise is no more remarked. Vice 
is seen parading the streets in priestly garb ; while a drunken 
priest lying in the gutter is not unfrequently reported. The 
tales which come from the priests’ homes, of debauchery 
and drunken revels, are too many, and too well authenti- 
cated, to be mere meaningless rumors. This is to be de- 
plored upon high grounds of public morality. When the 
reputed teachers of Christian morals become, by common 
agreement, scandalous in their lives, then vices of all kinds 
and grades will prevail, and the fabric of society will be 
endangered. The collapse must come to us, as it did to 
France. The same causes will lead to the same results. 
The history of one period is the prophecy of another. Moral 
considerations should lead us to do something. An Ameri- 
can saloon has its best champion in the foreign priest in our 
midst. 


90 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


The licentiousness of Pagan Rome has been perpetuated 
in Papal Rome. The Pagan priests led in vice ; it almost 
seems that the same is true of many of the Papal priests in 
our country. A wail of lamentation will one day be heard 
piercing the very heavens, and bringing down the judgment 
that always falls upon the nation that forgets the value of 
public integrity and private virtue. In that day the priests 
will have an awful account to settle with posterity. 

A WOESE CONDITION IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 

This priestly immorality was far more revolting in the 
fifteenth century in Europe. The Papacy was reaching to 
the meridian of its tyranny, ambition and corruption. It 
was in the noon- tide of its vain show, and in the full glow 
of its glaring crimes. The extravaganza of Papal display 
and hypocrisy was on the swell of the tide. IN’o where else 
was crime carried on upon such a gigantic scale, or wrong 
was espoused by a great power, as by right belonging to it ; 
and that authority the reputed head of Christianity on 
earth. It was a most humilating fall from early Christian- 
ity. It was simply Paganism, with a baptized name. The 
charge is well sustained, that the morals of Papal Europe in 
the fifteenth century were no improvement over the morals 
of the Pagan Europe of the first century. Pagan corrup- 
tions found shelter in the arms of Papalism. 

TWO POPES AT WAR WHTH EACH OTHER. 

One Pope had his seat at Rome, and another at Avignon, 
and this condition had existed through the latter part of 
the fourteenth century. A schism had torn the Papacy in 
twain, and each faction was resisting and cursing the other. 
Each Pope was surrounded by his college of cardinals, and 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


91 


mostly engaged in hurling anathemas at the other. And 
all this while the teaching of that Church was, that any 
person who was anathematized by Papal act was consigned 
irrevocably to hell. It was a most lugubrious business, to 
be sure, for these rival Popes to be engaged in. Great pity 
it is, that the whole structure of the Papacy did not go to 
wreck in the storm of those Papal revolutions. The peace 
of the world would not be so everlastingly endangered, if 
the Papacy should be overthrown utterly. 

Petrarch’s crushing testimony. 

Petrarch, the scholarly writer, who was courtier and sec- 
retary to several cardinals, was an eye witness of the Papal 
court life, both at Rome and at Avignon. He describes the 
Papacy with an invective which glows like the fires of Dan- 
te’ s Inferno. He describes the Papal throne at Avignon to be, 
“that western Babylon that is to be hated like Tartarus.’^ 
He declared it to be a terrestial hell, a residence of fiends 
and devils, a receptacle of all that is wicked and abomina- 
ble. He goes on in his testimony: “ Whatever perfidy and 
treachery ; whatever barbarity and pride ; whatever immor- 
ality and unbridled lust, you have known or read of ; in a 
word, whatever impiety and immodesty, either now is or 
ever was, scattered over the world, you may find here 
amassed in one heap.” Rome’s most intimate confident 
thus describes her state of morals. The indictment must 
stand. The evidence is quite sufficient. It is impossible to 
either overthrow it, or throw it out of court. Why should 
this unanswerable evidence be rejected ? 

If the cardinals of Gregory XII., Pope at Rome, are to be 
believed, and certainly they ought to be accredited wit- 
nesses, then Belshazzar and Xero were almost saints com- 
pared with that Pope. By this testimony of his ofiicial 


92 


THE ROMAN PAPACY 


cabinet, no more despicable character has ever disgraced 
human history. Yet he was the head and heart, the law 
and authority, of the Homan Catholic Church. What 
should be expected of the lower officials ? Where blood 
poison is in the heart, it is fatal to all the body. 

Is it to be remarked with any surprise that, in view of the 
vice which flourished at the Papal court, the profligate and 
the vicious had usurped the positions in Church and state, 
and bent both to Papal ways ? If the heart center was rot- 
ten to the core, was it not natural that the dregs should be 
found in the members ? 

A COUNCIL FORCED TO ATTEMPT REFORM. 

A general council was finally called to meet at Pisa, the 
great Italian town on the Arno. Moral desolation had driv- 
en the Papacy almost to destruction, and in desperation 
something had to be undertaken. The Pisa council met, 
and after labored discussion, arrived at the conclusion, the 
only one that was tenable even to sophistry, that the infal- 
libility and supreme authority, which were supposed to be 
lurking somewhere in the Roman Catholic Church, rested 
not in the Pope or doctrine, but was vested in the council. 
It may have been a very grotesque and silly action ; never- 
theless, such was the law as declared by the Pisa council. 
It was the last resort for the Papacy in that century, and the 
council had to do just what it did do. The council’s action 
was the logical sequence of the drift of the ecclesiastical 
errors and corruptions. By changing the storm center of 
confusion, it saved itself from immediate dissolution. It 
was a postponement, but not a solution. 

When the Pisa council had once declared the location 
of infallibility to rest in itself, it proceeded to summon to 


THE ROMAN PAP ACT. 


93 


its bar the two Popes, that it might be determined as to which 
rightly belonged the Papal throne. The order was issued 
for both to appear. It was ignored, and neither appeared. 
Whereupon the council proceeded to elect another Pope, 
and then quickly adjourned, before it still more complicated 
matters. There were now three Popes, and as many parties, 
each of which devoted itself to heartily abusing the others. 
Each of these Popes claimed to be the holy Pontif in direct 
succession from Peter. The evils had increased at least one- 
third. The sky grew darker, instead of lighter. And now 
to even more increase the perplexity, another contingency 
was suggested. The great chancellor of the Paris universi- 
ty, seeing no chance for harmonious adjustment, and not 
shrinking before the Papal threat, or Parisian mob, now 
declared in favor of doing without any Pope. The climax 
of unbelief, in the integrity and necessity of the Papacy, 
was reached in this. Men of learning within the Church 
began to reason, that the greatest organization of evil, vice 
and wrong in the world could not be a divinely constituted 
head over all the earth. All of this was preparing the 
nations. 

BOHEMIAN CHURCH NOT OF ROMAN ORIGIN. 

Against all this, the Bohemian people bowed their heads 
in sorrow, but not in silence. They never took kindly to 
the ultra-Papal power of the Homan Church. They were 
not indebted to the Papal Church for the establishment of 
the Church in their country. They had Christianity brought 
to them, in the middle of the ninth century, from devout 
missionaries of the Greek Church. Their work was calcu- 
lated to open the hearts of the people for a pure Gospel. 
They preached repentance and remission of sins. They 


94 


TEE ROMAE PAPACY. 


made a Bohemian version of the Bible, and for which pur- 
pose an alphabet was invented. These missionaries caused 
the reading of the Bible, public worship, and preaching to 
be in the common tongue. In character and results their 
work was in line with that of the Apostolic Church. The 
evils of the Papacy had not, in the eighteenth century, 
greatly encroached upon the Bohemian Church. 

The Bohemians had developed a type of Christianity 
much above that which prevailed under the rule of the Pa- 
pacy, in the countries round about. 

Just preceding the period of Huss, some faithful preach- 
ers, mindful of their vocation, boldly denounced the evils 
of the Church, rebuked the pride of the priests, taught the 
direct relation of the soul to God, upheld the necessity of 
faith, and the insufficiency of works without faith. 

THE PAPAL POLICY OF COLONIZING FOREIGNEKS. 

In addition to this, the Bohemians disliked the foreign 
influences, which worked in the interest of the corrupt Pa- 
pacy. The Papal rule in Bohemia began to be foreign, 
anti-national and odious. Germany was the obedient tool 
of the Pope. German influence threatened to destroy the 
Bohemian nationality. Colonies of Germans were settled 
on the fertile Bohemian plains. The nobility gave their 
castles German names ; city records and judicial proceed- 
ings were in the German language. There was an influx 
of German preachers, judges and civic officers. German 
customs and fashions prevailed in the social circles. The 
large majority of the university students were young 
Germans. And in this foreign rule began Papal corruption. 

The Church of Rome has always worked the scheme of 
colonizing her foreign subjects in the countries she intends 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


95 


to rule. In the United States she colonizes the Irish, the 
Italians and the French Canadians. Rome is cunning. 

THE PAPAL SPIRIT YS. THE HATIOJS'AL SPIRIT. 

Roman diplomacy had already set in strongly against 
nationality. Rome rule cannot be tolerated where a nation- 
al spirit prevails and national unity is fostered. Patriot- 
ism has never found a friend in the Papacy, and need not 
expect it. All through the history of Pagan Rome, the 
destruction of nationality was the first task undertaken, 
where a country was defeated in war. The same policy has 
always pertained with Papal Rome. By suppressing the 
national spirit, the Popes can best prevent the growth of 
independence in national feelings, laws and institutions. 
The patriotic pledges and professions of Roman Catholic 
bishops in our country are a mockery and deception, in- 
tended to soothe away the alarm, and help the cause of hy- 
pocritical politicians, working in the interest of the Roman 
Church. 

ARCHBISHOP Ireland’s high act of hypocrisy. 

Much has been hoped for from the supposed loyal spirit 
of Archbishop Ireland. He has said and written many 
things, which, had they issued from any other than a high 
Roman ecclesiastic, would be taken as sufficient proof of 
personal attachment to the American principles of liberty 
and law. As to the class of motives which underlie Arch- 
bishop Ireland’s declarations of admiration for our Ameri- 
can system of institutions, it may be judged from the letter 
he wrote to the Pope, shortly after his address before the 
great convention of teachers in Boston, a few years ago. In 
that letter he reported to the Pope that he had made such 
an address, before an immense gathering of teachers, num- 


96 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


bering some five thousand. He truthfully advises the Pope, 
that he said all he could, in compliment of the Public 
School System of the United States. Then he tells the 
Pope what his motive was in thus agreeing with the senti- 
ments of those teachers. It was that he might lead them 
to favor the position of the Roman Catholic Church, and 
unite with him in asking that the public money be divided, 
and part given to the Catholics, and part to the Protestants, 
and that then “we should have in this country what is known 
in Europe as denominational schools, under the control of 
the Church, but paid for by the State.” So the motives 
which inspire the patriotic declarations of this supposed 
friend of our laws, are those born out of the spirit of actual 
conspiracy. Precisely the same thing was done years ago 
by Bishop Purcell, of Cincinnati. He manifested great zeal 
for the public schools to the people of Cincinnati, and at the 
same time he was writing to Europe denunciations of them, 
as pernicious and dangerous. 

The faithful Bohemian people listened to faithful preach- 
ers and teachers. They were primitive in their religious 
views, and they were what we would now call evangelical. 
They believed in the marriage of the priests, and laughed 
at the legends of the saints, and at the same time they con- 
sidered altar lights in churches as useless, and holy water 
as no better than any other ; they looked upon the timber 
of the cross as a piece of wood, with no sacred associations 
attached to it, except that of mere sentiment. They had 
great reverence for the Word of God, and patterned their 
lives after its holy precepts. They had welcomed among 
them the Waldensian Christians, driven from the Piedmont 
by persecution. And the martyr spirit of that people, so 
long tried by both fire and sword, leavened the whole Bo- 
hemian people, and patriotism and devotion grew towards 
their maturity. 


THE ROHAN PAPACY. 


97 


THE HIDDEN HAND, BUT MIGHTY. 

In this portion of Bohemian history the footsteps of God 
are heard, and by no means lightly. The providences of 
heaven were working through the events of the scattered 
Waldensian Christians. They were God’s troubled vessels, 
destined among the nations to hand out the gracious fruit 
of the Gospel, and the strength of moral truths. A greatly 
favored people, and favorably constituted, were the Bohe- 
mians, if Rome had left them alone. 

Yes, it was very plain, that, in the beginning of the fif- 
teenth century, on the vast chess-board of European thought, 
a mightier hand was beginning to move than that of the 
sword of general, edict of king, or the mandate of Pope. 
It was that of an awakened conscience, which when fully 
aroused no king can crush, no parliament can subjugate, 
and no Pope can withstand. Elsewhere the voice of this 
disturbed conscience had been lifting its cry against the im- 
becijlity and crime of the power that ruled the nations. 
Among the Waldensians of northern Italy, in the universi- 
ties of Oxford and Paris, it spoke. But kings and Popes 
would not listen. ' And now it was about to speak in a way 
to be heard. It was to fall upon Europe like ^‘the voice 
of many waters.” It was to fall with a terrific sound of 
warning, not unlike the peal of a thousand battle guns. 

And now this voice was to be heard in Bohemia. It ap- 
peared, clothed in the modest and excellent doctrine of the 
sole and supreme authority of the Word of God. And it 
gained a speedy hearing, and then it went about sounding 
the key-note of the great Reformation of the succeeding 
century. The Bohemian hills were to witness the muster- 
ing of a host, whose tread should ere long startle Europe. 


98 


THE ROMAN PAP ACT. 


Huss was a zealous champion of the country’s rights. 
His influence as a reformer was strengthened by his devo- 
tion to the principles of patriotism. He was a reformer of 
country, as well as a reformer of the Church. He could 
best prepare for the advance of the Church by advancing 
the country. Eeligious and political reform are two sides 
of the same thing. 

The battle was now on. And the continent of Europe 
was watching, uncertain what to do, or even what to think. 
By the writings of Wyclif, and especially by the study of 
the Scriptures, and the life of Christ, Huss learned the joy 
of drinking deep at the fountain of truth. His teaching in 
the university was calculated to direct the students to the 
Bible, and turn them against the Papacy. In this way he 
was to leaven all Europe. 

MEN FOE THE TIMES. 

But the influence of Huss was not conflned to his academ- 
ical labors. He was made preacher in 1402, at the Beth- 
lehem chapel in Prague. The people of Prague had built 
and endowed this chapel, for the purpose of providing the 
students of the university, and the town’s people, with 
sound preaching in the Bohemian tongue. Under Huss it 
poured forth a perfect stream of spiritual and intellectual 
influence. His congregations grew to vast proportions. 
Enthusiasm rose to a high pitch, and often as he proclaimed 
the truth with great power and eloquence, his voice was 
drowned by the applause of the multitude. The chapel 
seated three thousand people. His sermons were full of 
faith. Are and freedom. He seemed to have the zeal of Paul, 
and the prophetic power of the old Hebrew prophets, as he 
urged his hearers to a higher plane of faith, and forecasted 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


99 


the ruin of their religion if they did not strive against the 
encroachments of the Papacy. Hass and Jerome were fitted 
for their day. 

These are the men for the times. They are the men 
for all times. For all times are in need of men who are 
above all considerations of what their work may do for 
them, and only consider what it will do for God and the 
world. Huss would be a good man for our times, and our 
country. Clear-sighted, far-sighted, deep-sighted, high- 
sighted men are needed, who by their faithfulness and fear- 
lessness will make the people listen, ere the country fall. 
We must have some giants, because a giant’s work awaits 
men of soul power and moral courage. Speed their 
coming ! 

Huss was appointed synodical preacher. It was an ap- 
pointment that gave him an opportunity. In his first syn- 
odical sermon he dealt with tremendous power upon the 
moral iniquities, which had grown up under the eye of the 
Papacy. It was a bold, strong, convincing arraignment of 
the Pope’s rule. He gave every sin its right name and de- 
scription. He blew an alarm that all Bohemia felt, and re- 
sponded to most gallantly. The Bohemian faith grew into 
heroic proportions. 

THE COMING OF THE STOEM. 

The people began to see that their responsibility to God, 
and their obligation to their country, outweighed their 
duties to the Pope, thrust upon them by Papal tyranny. 
The Papal hierachy was a foreign, unjust and oppressive 
government, most galling to them. They had never ac- 
cepted the claim of the Pope’s divine right to rule over 
them. That right rested at best upon a fiimsy thread of 
traditional logic. They disliked the power that ruled from 


100 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Rome, and they saw no reason why they should be longer 
submissive. The light was turned on with great power 
by Huss, and Papal Europe began to wince from one end 
to the other. Rome’s experience with England, one-half 
century before, was still lingering as an unpleasant mem- 
ory in her mind. Now Bohemia is striking for independ- 
ence and liberty. Should this thing spread what will be- 
come of Popes, potentates and kings? For one short day 
Rome stood aghast. She saw the crisis that was coming. 

The flood of God’s waters was up, and rising still. The 
Papacy had to stem that flood, or else it would wash away 
completely her throne. There was prospective danger in 
stepping out before that rushing sound of freedom’s tramp, 
and she trembled. But there was immediate peril for her 
if she did nothing. The day of hesitancy was cut short ; 
and the Papacy entered upon her regime of persecution in 
Bohemia. It was to be a long, sad period of wrong and op- 
pression. But it was Rome, and we need expect from her 
no other than a course of action the most cruel and inhu- 
man. 

' It was in the year 1403 that the Papal agents forbade the 
university of Prague to teach the writings of Wyclif. It 
was thought that this would prove effective. This, how- 
ever, was only a partial blow, and it was followed in 1407 by 
an order removing Huss from the office of synodical preach- 
er, and all because he had been so very successfully de- 
nouncing the sinful lives of the clergy. Rome could not 
endure this sort of an impeachment of her priests. And in- 
stead of insisting that Huss should prove his charges, he 
was removed from the office which gave him an opportu- 
nity to assail these evils. It is Rome’s way. It is her self- 
preservation that she mi'.st keep back the truth, and keep 
out the light. Rome’s ways are so dark that she must sup- 
press the light of history. 


THE HOMAN PAPACY. 


101 


BURNING TWO HUNDRED BOOKS. 

Three more years pass, and in 1410 the bishop goes still 
further, and forbids him to preach, and lays an interdict on 
the city of Prague for harboring him. At the same time, 
as a still greater blow, the bishop committed to the flames 
more than two hundred volumes of the writings of the great 
English reformer. Rome has always indulged in the child- 
ish freak that she can destroy the truth, by burning the 
books of reformers. Many a bonfire she has made of ser- 
mons, pamphlets and books, and men, too, believing she was 
reducing truth to ashes, and sending liberty up in smoke. 
Rome is as great a dupe to herself as she has been a fraud 
to others. She has burned millions of copies of the Bible. 

Papal bulls were sent forth from. Rome against Huss. He 
was driven from Prague, and from the chapel and the uni- 
versity. So much does Rome fear free speech, that exile is 
the penalty of its championship. Let those who hug the 
belief, that Rome in America is favorable to freedom of 
thought and of speech, take a few lessons in history and 
Roman Canon Law, and that belief will quickly speed away. 
She boasts of liberty, where boasting can be used to turn 
favor to her ; but she cannot turn to a single act of council, 
or bull of Pope, ever made in the advocacy of liberty of 
conscience, of thought and of tongue. Political liberty is 
as distasteful to her as is religious liberty. 

When Huss was banished from the city of Prague he re- 
tired to the villages round about, and flred his shots of elo- 
quent truth as he moved on. In knightly castles, and along 
the roadside, in flelds and in mountain homes, he went, 
stirring the hearts of the multitudes by his thrilling words 
of pure Gospel. He felt that to oppose the Pope was to 
arouse a dragon, breathing forth Are and smoke. But his 
heart was in the Gospel, because the Gospel was in his souL 


102 


THE HOMAN PAPACY. 


He grew at once to the stature of a hero, and filled the Bo- 
hemian horizon with his moral greatness. 

THE BOLD CHARGE OF HUSS. 

He now begins to preach bold, evangelical sermons, against 
Papal claims of all kind and degree. Through the perse- 
cution of the Popes he saw the sojphistry and hypocrisy of 
the Popes. And he proceeded to tear aside the veil. In one 
of these great sermons, after explaining the Scripture teach- 
ing of how God forgives sin, he says : “From all this it ap- 
pears that a man can receive the pardon of his sins only 
through the power of God, and by the merits of Christ. 
Let who will proclaim the contrary. Let the Pope, or a 
bishop, or a priest say : ‘ I forgive thee thy sins. I absolve 
thee from their penalty. I free thee from the pains of hell.’ 
It is all vain, and helps thee nothing. God alone, I re- 
peat, can forgive sins through Christ, and he pardons the 
penitent only.” This was a bold denial of the Papal doc- 
trine. It was full of danger to the stability of the Papal 
claims. 'No man dare so say, and not feel the hand of the 
Papacy laid heavily upon him. Home could not allow such 
a grant of liberty. It would be inviting her own overthrow. 
Huss must take his punishment. It was the penalty of that 
day against righteousness of thought, and freedom of utter- 
ance. Home acted then according to her power, and in per- 
fect accord with her spirit. Her highest authorities declare 
that their Church has not changed in spirit. All she lacks 
is the power to do as she did in the twelfth and sixteenth 
centuries. 


HUSS IS EX-COMMUNICATED. 

Events move along with the years rapidly. In 1412 Pope 
John XXIII. excommunicated Huss in the severest form 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


103 


known. No man was to associate with him ; no man was 
to give him food or drink ; no man was to give him a place 
where he might rest his head ; wherever he staid, religions 
services were to cease ; in case of his death he was not to 
have Christian burial. Does this sound like the work of 
the vicar of Christ on earth ? Would one who represented 
the spirit and the practice of Christ, order all men to re- 
fuse food and water to a fellowman when hungry and 
thirsty ? This is, indeed, a fine showing for the reputed 
charity of the Roman Catholic Church. A like order has 
been issued by the Church quite recently, in some of the 
South American countries. 

In 1414 the great Council of Constance was called. The 
purpose for which this Council was called was to heal the 
scandal of having three Popes, and that growing out of 
Papal vices, and to attempt a reform of the many abuses 
which had grown up in the Church. The Popes had fallen 
so low that ordinary vice seemed virtue. Pope John XXIIL 
was abominable in profligacy and sacrilegious in his impiety. 
The world was mortified by the audacious vices of the Popes. 
Men could hardly believe the magnitude of the corruption 
at the very head of the Church. All of the time many bear 
witness to gross iniquity. Clemenges, who was in the 
faculty of Paris, chastised in fearful terms and keen lashes, 
the whole order of the clergy, from the Pope down to the 
lowest priest. He bids “the Church look to the vision of 
the Apoclypse, and then read the abomination of the great 
harlot, that sitteth on the many waters, and then contem- 
plate her own wicked doings, and the dire calamity that 
will come upon her.” 

Monasticism had sunk into utter degeneracy. Monks had 
set themselves up as teachers over the pastors, refused the 
Bible to the people, induced superstition and corruption, 


104 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


made godliness a traffic, and were notorious for leading 
women astray. 

CHAKGE OF THE AECHBISHOP OF GEHOA. 

In all the orders iniquity was so hideous, bold and defi- 
ant, that the Homan Catholic archbishop of Genoa writes : 
‘‘ The Church has become a step-mother. The vices which 
show themselves openly are these : tyranny, confusion, sup- 
pression of liberty, despising virtue and morals, neglect of 
learning, ridiculing justice, opposing the people, sacrilege, 
murder, adultery, theft, in a word, everything that can be 
called infamous.” This a picture of the Papacy drawn by 
an adherent. We do not need to go to the enemies of Rome 
for the gravest charge against her, but to her own writers. 
The witness from within is more terrible in its severity than 
the proof from without. 

Here is another Roman Catholic opinion. The eminent 
chancellor of the university of Paris, Gerson, poured a per- 
fect torrent of pamphlets upon Europe, in which he demon- 
strated that the unity of the Church had been destroyed 
by the Popes ; and that it could only be restored by a gen- 
eral council uncalled by any Pope. And yet the Pope was 
the essentia] head of the Church at all times, and without 
the Pope the Church was headless. The Roman Catholic 
Church will perish if she keeps her Popes, and to give 
them up she will cease to be a universal Church. 

The efforts of Gerson were seconded by the Emj)eror Sig- 
ismund, of Germany, and the Council of Constance was 
finally called. This was the grandest pageant of an eccle- 
siastical character the world has ever seen. Rome always 
tries to win by show. This Council was in session almost 
four years. It was under the patronage of the Emperor. 
It contained nearly two hundred princes and counts, twenty 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


105 


cardinals, twenty archbishops, one hundred bishops, sever- 
al hundred doctors of theology, and fully four thousand 
priests. It drew fifty thousand strangers to the city. It 
had to deal with three Popes, each claiming to be the right- 
ful claimant of the pontifical chair. Two of these Popes 
Were deposed by the Council, and the third abdicated. 

SHAMEFUL PERFIDY OF POPE AND EMPEROR. 

After the Popes had been disposed of, the case of Huss 
came up. The Emperor Sigismund had invited him to plead 
his cause before the Council. He promised him a safe con- 
duct, a fair hearing, and a free return to Bohemia. When 
Pope John XXIII., who had sanctioned the Council, was 
told that Huss was expected to attend the Council at Con- 
stance, he remarked, that if Huss had killed his own broth- 
er, he would not in any wise wish to molest him, or per- 
mit him to be molested. He declared that he must be safe 
while he was at Constance. What have such promises on 
the part of Home ever been worth ? They have never been 
kept. This is a fearful charge ! It is a true one. 

In this instance the pledge of the Emperor, and the prom« 
ise of the Pope, were alike empty words. And before this 
infamous Council had adjourned it burned to death both 
John Huss and his friend, Jerome of Prague, that other 
powerful Bohemian reformer. This is Home. 

Shameful perfidy ! Within a very short time after his 
arrival, and before any charges had been heard against him, 
and in spite of the safe conduct, the king’ s guarantee, and 
the Pope’s promise, Huss was a prisoner. At first he was 
confined in a private house, then in a Dominican monastery 
on the shore of the lake, then in a dungeon in the castle of 
Gotleben, where he was chained to a block, and at night 


106 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


Ms arm was pinioned to the damp stone wall. This shows 
well the amount of confidence which is to be given to any 
of the pledges of the Papacy. 

Huss was brought into the Council, to listen to the 
charges, when they were to be read. He reminded them 
that he had come there under the pledge of the Emperor, 
who was present, that he should be safe from all violence. 
As he spoke these words he fixed his eye on the Emperor, 
who deeply flushed. Sigismund felt his shame. This scene 
was not forgotten in Germany, a century later. When 
the Emperor Charles was pressed to consent to the seizure 
of Luther, he said: “Ho, I should not like to blush like 
Sigismund.” Is it not well, in these days, when Home in 
in our land is making such pretentions of loyalty, to meas- 
ures and institutions we know she does not like, to bear in 
mind, how in other days she promised good-will and pro- 
tection, and then proceeded to violate both \ Rome is the 
same in all countries, and in all centuries. Rome is a 
chameleon only on the surface. Ho student of history be- 
lieves the word of Roman leaders. They talk for a design, 
rather than from a motive. 

The Council deprived Huss of his priestly office and 
turned him over to the Emperor for execution. The sen- 
tence was in the formula: “We devote thy soul to the 
devils of hell.” And Huss said: “But I commend it to 
my most merciful Master, J esus Christ. ” Some time before 
this, when he was assailed by several learned doctors in the 
law, Huss asked them to point out wherein his teachings 
were in opposition to Scriptural truth. They had no an- 
swer, but to say that the fire was the most effective logic ; 
and his books were burned. How the Church of Rome pro- 
ceeds to treat his body as she had his books. The priestly 
doctors were right altogether, the fire is Rome’s most effec- 
tive logic. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


107 


Huss was tied to a stake, in a meadow, beyond the city gate 
of Constance. Fagots and straw were piled about kim. 
The pile was set on fire. His clothing, his body, even his 
bones, were wholly consumed by the fire. The ashes, with 
all memorials of the execution, were carted away and emp- 
tied into the Rhine. Rome has often done this. 

THE MARTYEDOM OF HUSS. 

Let US survey the closing scene of that martyrdom, as de- 
picted by de Bonnechose : — 

‘ ‘ They placed on his head a sort of crown, or pyramidal 
mitre, on which were painted frightful figures of demons, 
with this inscription : ‘ The Arch-Heretic and, when he 
was thus arrayed, the prelates devoted his soul to the 
devils. John Huss, however, recommended his spirit to 
God, and said aloud, ‘ I wear with joy this crown of oppro- 
brium, for the love of Him who bore a crown of thorns.’ 

“The church then gave up all claim to him; declared 
him a layman ; and, as such, delivered him over to the 
secular power, to conduct him to the place of punishment. 
John Huss, hy the order of Sigismund, was given up by 
the Elector Palatine., vicar of the empire^ to the chief mag- 
istrate of Constance., who, in his turn, abandoned him to 
the officers of justice. He walked between four town ser- 
geants to the place of execution. The princes followed, 
with an escort of eight hundred men, strongly armed ; and 
the concourse of the people was so prodigious that a bridge 
was very near breaking down under the multitude. In 
passing by the episcopal palace, Huss beheld a great fire 
consuming his books ; and he smiled at the sight. 

“ The place of punishment was a meadow adjoining the 
gardens of the city, outside the gate of Gotleben. On ar- 


108 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


riving there, Huss kneeled down and recited some of the 
Penitential Psalms. Several of the people, hearing him 
pray with fervor, said aloud: ‘We are ignorant of this 
man’ s crime ; but he offers up to God most excellent prayers.’ 

“ When he was in front of the pile of wood which was to 
consume his body he was recommended to confess his sins. 
Huss consented, and a priest was brought to him, a man of 
great learning and high reputation. The priest refused to 
hear him unless he avowed his errors and retracted. ‘ A 
heretic,’ he observed, ‘ can neither give nor receive the sac- 
raments.’ Huss replied : ‘ I do not feel myself to be guilty - 
of any mortal sin ; and, now that I am on the point of ap- 
pearing before God, I will not purchase absolution by a 
perjury.’ 

“When he wished to address the crowd in German, the 
Elector Palatine opposed it, and ordered him to be forth- 
with burned. ‘Lord Jesus,’ cried John Huss, ‘I shall en- 
deavor to endure with humility this frightful death, which 
I am awarded for thy holy Gospel. Pardon all my ene- 
mies.’ Whilst he was praying thus, with his eyes raised 
up to heaven, the paper crown fell of : he smiled ; but the 
soldiers replaced it on his head, in order, as they declared, 
that he might be burned with the devils whom he had 
obeyed. 

“ Having obtained permission to speak to his keepers, he 
thanked them for the good treatment he had received at 
their hands. ‘ My brethren,’ said he, ‘ learn that I firmly 
believe in my Savior : it is in his name that I suffer ; and 
this very day shall I go and reign with him.’ 

“His body was then bound with thongs, with which he 
was firmly tied to a stake driven deep into the ground. 
When he was so affixed some jjersons objected to his face 
being turned to the east, saying that this ought not to be, 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


109 


since lie was a heretic. He was then untied and bound 
again to the stake with his face to the west. His head was 
held close to the wood by a chain smeared with soot, and 
the view of which inspired him with pious reflections on the 
ignominy of our Savior’s sufferings. 

“Fagots were then arranged about and under his feet, 
and around him was piled up a quanity of wood and straw. 
When all these preparations were completed, the Elector 
Palatine, accompanied by Count d’ Oppenheim, marshal of 
the empire, came up to him, and for the last time recom- 
mended him to retract. But he, looking up to heaven, said 
with a loud voice: ‘ I call God to witness, that I have never 
either taught or written what those false witnesses have 
laid to my charge. My sermons, my books, my writings 
have all been done with the sole view of rescuing souls from 
the tyranny of sin ; and therefore most joyfully will I con- 
firm with my blood that truth which I have taught, written, 
and preached, and which is confirmed by the divine law and 
the holy fathers.’ 

“The elector and the marshal then withdrew, and fire 
was set to the pile. ‘ Jesus, Son of the living God,’ cried 
John Huss, ‘have pity on me!’ He prayed and sung a 
hymn in the midst of his torments ; but soon after, the 
wind having risen, his voice was drowned by the roaring of 
the flames. . He was perceived for some time longer moving 
his head and lips, and as if still praying ; and then he gave 
up the spirit. His habits were burned with him, and the 
executioners tore in pieces the remains of his body and 
threw them back into the funeral pile, until the fire had 
absolutely consumed everything. The ashes were then col- 
lected together and thrown into the Ehine.” 

It was Bishop Brognier who presided over the Council 
that ordered Huss and Jerome to be burned at the stake. 


110 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


When this cruel bishop came to die, his body was buried in 
the cathedral at Geneva, and there lie his remains to this day. 
But that cathedral church was to have, a century later, for 
its pastor no other than John Calvin, and became the very 
stronghold of the reformed faith. Aye! Jean Brognier, 
had you foreseen this, would you have ruled this Council of 
Constance as you did ? 

THE BUEHIHG OF JEEOME OF PEAGHE. 

After the execution of Huss, the members of the Council re- 
turned to its sessions and took up the business, without 
any feelings of regret that they had just participated in a 
terrible murder. Rome has no conscience herself, is why 
she cannot recognize the rights of one in any one else. 

It was but a short while until J erome of Prague was 
brought before the Council. He, like Huss, was condemned 
by the Council, because he denounced the sins of the times, 
with out measure, and upheld the supreme authority of the 
Scriptures. The defense of Jerome before the Council re- 
minds us of Paul’s defense before Agrippa. He says : ‘‘I 

am aware, most learned men, that many most excellent men 
have suffered things unworthy of their virtues, borne down 
by false witnesses, condemned by unjust judges. If I my- 
self should, in like manner, be condemned, I shall not be the 
first, nor do I believe that I shall be the last to suffer. Still 
I have a firm hope in God, my maker, that yet, when this 
life is past, they who condemn Jerome unjustly, shall see 
him take precedence of them and summon them to judg- 
ment. And then shall they be bound to answer God, and 
give an account for the injustice with which he was treated 
at their hands.” Every word of this charge has a clear 
tone of truth and justice. 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Ill 


Jerome was an orator .of great force. His eloquence 
thrilled the assembly, and well nigh made them pause. 
His gaze of conscious integrity and moral uprightness made 
them quail. But they had had the taste of blood, and were 
like beasts of prey scenting the trail anew. 

Jerome, by order of the Council, was burned, and on the 
same spot as Huss, and his ashes, like those of Huss, were 
thrown into the Bhine. A double murder ! No civil court 
had tried or sentenced them. It was a Church court, which 
Borne claims she has the right to hold because of her juris- 
diction over human actions, and her right to pronounce judg- 
ment, and execute her own sentence. This is one of the fun- 
damental principles of Canon Law in the Church of Borne, 
and shows the essential antagonism between the laws of the 
Church and those of the state. According to all principles 
of modern constitutionalism, the Church law has no jurisdic- 
tion, in matters of personal liberty, property, or life. And 
yet the Boman Church claims jurisdiction here, and has ex- 
ercised it wherever she has had the power. 

INCARNATED MALICE. 

So it was that the Coancil of Constance tried, sentenced 
and executed two men. And it had a mania for indulging 
in persecution ; not only the living, but the dead as well 
being the subjects of it. This Council ordered an English 
bishop to ungrave the body of Wyclif, burn it and throw 
the ashes into the Severn. The Council seemed to be pos- 
sessed with the idea, that if the ashes of the martyrs were 
only swept away by the waters, the germs of liberty would 
be exterminated. Poor dupes! When bigotry and ignorance 
are compounded how brutal the moral chemical produced ! 

While the Council of Constance was carrying on its work 


112 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


of persecution and death, the teachings of Huss were spread- 
ing more rapidly than before. An ever-increasing number 
of people began to see that they presented the truth. Men 
at once saw the light in reading the sermons of Huss. In the 
next century Luther came across the writings of this good 
Bohemian reformer, and gives a most interesting account 
of the impressions on his mind. W e give his words : ‘ ‘ When 
I was studying at Erfurt, I found in a library of the convent 
a book entitled, ‘ Sermons of John Huss. ’ I was seized with 
a curiosity to know what doctrines this heresiarch had 
taught. This reading filled me with incredible surprise. 
I could not comprehend why they should have burned so 
great a man, and one who had explained Scripture with so 
much discernment and wisdom. But Inasmuch as the very 
name of Huss was such an abomination, that I imagined 
that at the mention of it the heavens would fall and the sun 
be darkened, I shut the book with a sad heart. I consoled 
myself, however, by the thought that perhaps he wrote 
it before he fell into heresy ; for as yet I knew nothing of 
the Council of Constance.” 

This was the way the Huss writings impressed his own 
countrymen, in his own day. The voice of the German 
Luther in the sixteenth century was the same as that of 
the Bohemian masses in the fifteenth. While the Council 
of Constance was persecuting Huss and Jerome, and burn- 
ing them, the people were reading the writings of the two 
men, and were thinking for themselves. And by the time 
the Council had finished its course of tyranny and crime, 
they were ready to act. After the death of Huss and Je- 
rome the Bohemians were not to be trified with. Their 
greatest and most loved preachers had been murdered by 
the Papal Church ! 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


113 


THE POPES RESORT TO ARMS. 

A new Pope had the impudence to send a special legate 
to Bohemia. He quickly returned, and reported that force 
was necessary. This is Pome’s final method. Punishment 
may make a man think, but it will hardly make him think 
your way. This is Pome’ s great blunder ! 

The Pope and the Emperor agreed to resort to arms, in 
order to bring the Bohemians over to the way of thinking 
and believing that Pome taught. Two years after the Coun- 
cil, which brings us to the year 1420, an army of twenty 
thousand men faced the Bohemian borders. Three timea 
it was driven, defeated, from Prague. 

In this war, which followed the burning of Huss and 
Jerome, the Bohemian banner was a great black standard, 
bearing a blood-red chalice. Great and patriotic hymns 
were composed, which were sung by the troops as they 
rushed into battle, and they were greatly feared by the 
German Papal troops. These Bohemian troops seldom 
fled when conquered, but died for their religion and their 
country. 

But finally the cunning of the Papacy, by its black art of 
diplomacy, did accomplish what the arms of Germany 
could not do, and the freedom of the Bohemian Church was 
overthrown. For a century and a half, from the early 
part of the fifteenth to the latter part of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, there were no Protestants publicly known in Bohe- 
mia. Many died on the scaffold, and many more were driv- 
en out by persecution. The penalty of death was the price 
paid for reading the Bible. This was the reign of the Jes- 
uits. Liberty was crushed, because liberty was not wanted. 

Before this reduction of the people to Papal rule, the 
country had risen to a degree of freedom unknown to any 


114 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


other part of Europe, prior to the great upheaval brought 
in by the work of Luther. And Rome had to drive her 
cruel methods to their last desperate resort, before she 
could succeed in subjugating the land of Huss. Whole 
armies were dashed to pieces on the plains of the Maldan, 
treasuries were exhausted, and cabinets were sorely put to, 
in the attempt to subdue Bohemia to Papal rule. In order 
to aid the Papal party in Bohemia, Paul Y. levied a tax on 
his clergy in Italy, amounting to a tenth of their income. It 
reached several hundred thousand florins, and w^as handed 
over to the Catholic party in Bohemia in 1620. Innocent 
issued a bull ordering that all concessions of civil and relig- 
ious liberty, which those might be enjoying in Bohemia, 
who were not obedient to the Pope, should be considered 
null and void. Pope Urbane YIII., took the bishopric of 
Halderstadt, which for ninety years had been by agreement 
independent of the Papal chair, and gave it to his own 
party. This was an immoral, unconstitutional seizure, and 
amounted to a Papal theft. The work of reducing these 
independent Christians to 'the Papal government thus ap- 
pears difficult in the extreme. The Bohemian clergy had 
married. The sacrament was administered to all the peo- 
ple, in both parts. This they had to some extent from the 
Waldensian Christians, who had come among them for 
conscience sake. 

THE SECOND BOHEMIAN UPRISING. 

A genuine Protestant Church had developed in Bohemia 
and enjoyed a period of something like a century, if not a 
longer period, of purity and freedom, though not without 
persecution, before Rome began the final work of utter ex- 
tinction . By the time the full blaze of the German Reforma- 
tion was on, under Luther, these Bohemian Christians had 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


115 


seceded from Rome, on account of its doctrinal errors, 
evil practices and tyrannical spirit, and again became inde* 
pendent. 

The Bohemian Church of the Unity was formed. It took 
high Biblical grounds, and upheld an evangelical faith. 
The only reminder of Romanism was the seven sacraments, 
but the Confession of the Bohemian Church did not ex- 
plain them in the Roman sense. The Confession held that 
the only efficacy of the sacraments to the receiver, was in 
his faith in the Lord. As to remission of sins, the Confes- 
sion declared, “that whosoever repents and believes, re- 
ceives the remission of sin, and by partaking in living 
faith of the Lord’s Supper, is assured of such forgiveness.” 
They were above all Romish superstitions. In regard to 
the Virgin Mary, their Confession says: “ To worship her 
is to pray to her, and to bend the knee before her, or to 
expect help from her, is not right.” They rejected the 
worship of the saints. And this is one of the worst evils 
which has ever afflicted the Roman Church. Upon purga- 
tory they say in their Confession: “The Bible knows noth- 
ing of a place where, after death, men are purged from sin 
and prepared for heaven. After death comes the judg- 
ment.” 


WHY THE POPES FOUGHT BOHEMIA. 

The case in Bohemia seems to appear something like 
this: The people were too Biblical in their faith and 
Christian doctrine, for Rome ; they were too moral in their 
lives, and upright in their character, for Rome ; they were 
too far removed from the easily guarded field of ignorance 
and superstition to suit Rome ; they were too self-conscious 
of their rights, natural and by possession, to suit Rome ; 


116 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


they were too bold in declaring their disapproval of the 
immoral lives of the clergy to please Rome. Hence Rome 
had to empty the vial of her wrath upon Bohemia, and ex- 
tinguish that free nation. Rome committed a crime for 
which there was no cure, except that of Papal tyranny. 

A WAEXING TO THE UNITED STATES. 

Some day it will be thought timely to study the likeli- 
hood of the Papacy undertaking in this land, the same 
course of suppression of individual and national rights. It 
was but a couple years since that a Roman bishop in Phil- 
adelphia, in a public address, declared that his Church 
had the right to be intolerant ; because it was the only 
Church that was in the possession of the truth. So long 
as Rome holds to the right to be intolerant, she only lacks 
a conscious power to be oppressive, as of old. She is be- 
coming conscious of power in the United States. 

Some wholesome reflections spring up, from a study of 
the Bohemian Reformation. And it may be quite easy for 
us to read in these reflections some useful lessons for our 
day and land. Human events move often in a circle, and 
the swell of the circle, and the regular or irregular lines of 
the circle, and determined by like or unlike conditions and 
causes. If we have the same causes, working on the same 
conditions, it is a foregone conclusion that the results must 
be similiar. 


DANGER OF PRIESTLY POWER. 

Had the Bohemian Christians taken the question of the 
foreign priesthood in hand a century earlier, the whole 
curse of Rome could have been thrown off. The priests 
were tolerated until their power became so great it could 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


117 


not be cruslied. The Roman priests constitute a standing 
army against liberties in every land under heaven. Priest- 
ly power is one of the storm centers in every free land, and 
out of this center comes the greatest peril to a freedom- 
loving people. During the present century several coun- 
tries have had to make an issue of the evil, and establish a 
government that would check its growth and subdue its 
X)ower. Among such, perhaps, Mexico is the most noted. 
In that country the Roman Catholics themselves rose in a 
great popular movement, and threw off the yoke of priest- 
craft. And none too soon was it done. The same dark 
peril confronts England at present. Fifty years ago there 
were but five hundred priests in that land ; now there are 
twenty-six hundred. Fifty years ago there were but two 
priests’ schools ; now there are twenty-nine. Then there 
were no convents ; now there are two hundred and twenty- 
five. Then there were but twenty-nine monasteries; at 
present there are four hundred. If anything, the danger 
arising from priestly power is even more acute in our own 
country. Here the priest is the avowed foe of the Ameri- 
can school, exercises the terror of the boycot over business 
and manufacturing enterprises, and is an element of cor- 
ruption in town, state and national politics. This is per- 
fectly clear to all well informed men. 

FAME AND FAITHFULNESS. 

If a people will not bow to Rome, God will richly reward 
her with an honorable place in history. He selected the 
Bohemian Christians to inaugurate the first great mission- 
ary enterprise of modern times. The war-like followers, 
who sought to avenge Huss under Zisca, became the peace- 
ful and peace-loving Moravian Church, and the Moravian 


118 


THE ROMAN RAP ACT. 


missionaries, whose fame is in every land, are the lineal de- 
scendants of these brave soldiers. The Moravian Church is 
the Missionary Church excellence. 

The ways of providence are often full of touching ro- 
mance, and contain, for the diligent pilgrim therein, a 
richer charm of interest in things strange and novel than 
may be found in any work of fiction. A ripe seed of pure 
evangelism was gathered from the writings of Wyclif. The 
Bohemian people were a congenial soil for this seed. But 
how was a sympathetic relation between the two to be es- 
tablished ? The English king fell in love with the Bohe- 
mian princess. This young Queen was a devout lover of the 
Bible. Her example in reading the Scriptures in her own 
language was an inspiration to the English people ; and 
her residence at the English court made the Bohemians 
the more ready to welcome the English Bible writings. And 
so this instance of love became a case of providence. 

THE EFFORT TO FIND SUPREME AUTHORITY. 

Only when Scripture is held to be a supreme authority 
is there to be found a safe standard for judgment and action. 
This is the sad lessons which the blunders and failures of 
the Council of Constance should teach. In the Bomau 
Catholic Church, chief and final authority was held at first 
to be in the Popes alone. But when the irregularity and 
crimes of the Popes made them the target for ridicule 
throughout Europe, it had to be denied that they held the 
final authority, in even matters of faith and life. Another 
ground had to be sought. Under the great chancellor of 
the university of Paris, this was declared to be that of a 
general council. A council made of carninals, archbishops, 
doctors of theology, and all orders of the priesthood, was 
final in power and authority, and to such a council each 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


119 


had to submit. This was accepted as a fundamental state- 
ment of law throughout the Church, so far as general as- 
sent seemed to go. And it has never been abrogated ; and 
yet the Popes have always played above it. On this ground 
the Council of Constance was called. But the Council only 
increased the Popes from two to three. It remained in ses- 
sion about four years, and did not accomplish a single act 
justified by history ; while its authority was recognized, 
after it was over with, by neither Pope nor Church, though 
both had subscribed to the principle before the Council met. 
The chaos was worse than before. Where the Scriptures 
are not held as a supreme rule, for justice and action, every 
state of society must at times fall into anarchy. 

THE BIBLE AND PATRIOTISM. 

In the Bible alone is to be found infallibility. It is the 
chief glory of the Beformation in Bohemia, that it hadit s 
origin in the heroic effort to make the Bible the supreme 
authority, and final appeal in matters of faith, judgment 
and life. If the Protestant pulpits in our land would ring 
out with the more certain sound of this pure Gospel, we 
would soon be in a much healthier condition of Christian 
patriotism. The people have been led away from the Bible 
by the preaching of mental vagaries and theological theories. 
This has resulted in a low standard of moral character in 
both the individual and the nation. Patriotism has gone 
into decline because the power has been taken away from 
the Bible. A better patriotism is to be kindled at the altars 
of a purer Gospel preaching. The people want it, too. The 
pulpit that returns to devotion to the Gospel, and love of 
country, will become popular. The course the Popes pur- 
sued with Bohemia indicates Pome’s enmity against the 


120 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


rights of conscience. Wherever the rights of conscience 
are suppressed there can be no piety, pure religion, or civil 
freedom. Unless man’s conscience is left free, human pro- 
gress must stop, and the great field of science remain with- 
out further exploration. If man cannot use his conscience 
he has no use for education, and there is no opportunity 
for enterprise. Conscience and progress must go together. 

Rome makes true freedom in religion, and in politics, im- 
possible, by denying to man the right to the light of his own 
conscience. Rome blindfolds the mind and heart, and then 
says : “Now walk as directed from Rome.” Men without 
conscience are in bondage. 

“Their’s not to make reply, 

Their’s not to reason why, 

Their’s to do and die.” 

Pope Pius IX., in an address on the affairs of New Gra- 
nada, says there should be “no free education, no freedom 
of worship, no freedom of the press.” Such things he stig- 
matizes as the liberty of perdition. Archbishop Huges’ 
paper, in 1852, declared that “no man had any right to 
choose his religion.” Pius IX. declares that the supposed 
right to do so “was a monstrous error.” Leo XIII. pro- 
nounces it a “ degradation of liberty. ’ ’ Three hundred years 
ago the Pope burned Bruno in Rome, because he would not 
submit to the rule denying him the high right to think and 
talk. Her treatment of Galileo was because he held to the 
right to be left alone, in his researches in the great secrets 
of nature. 

It was no un-Roman declaration made by Pius IX., when 
he said : “I acknowledge no civil power, I claim to be the 
supreme judge and director of the consciences of men.” 
Rome has always claimed this high right of conclave over 
the dictates of conscience. It means the worst type of bond- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


121 


age the world can possibly know. So far as this teaching 
pertains among Eoman Catholics they are, and must remain, 
unfit citizens of a free republic. They can never rise to a con- 
ception of the moral quality of a vote, or understand the 
responsibility attaching to the administration of public 
office. Whatever per cent, are of this class are a dangerous 
element in our citizenship. They will do whatever they are 
directed to do, and place the responsibility of their acts on 
the priests, who are as a rule without any sense of political 
right, feeling of honor, or care for patriotism. 

ROMATT CATHOLIC OPINIONS. 

From Catholic writers, and rulers, we select such state- 
ments as the following : “ The civil laws are binding on the 
conscience, only so long as they are conformable to the 
rights of the Catholic Church.’’ 

Human laws are capable of dispensation. The power 
to dispense belongs to the sovereign Pontiff.” 

‘ ‘ The Pope, as the head and mouthpiece of the Catholic 
Church, administers its discipline, and issues its orders, to 
which every Catholic, under pain of sin, must yield obe- 
dience. ’ ’ 

‘'No pledge of Catholics is of any value to which Home 
is not a party.” 

“You must not think as you choose ; you must think as 
Catholics.” 

“Censure not the actions of your superiors, even when 
they appear to merit censure.” 

These are typical sentences of Eoman Catholic teaching, 
which may be taken from high prelates, responsible papers 
and authoritative books, upon every side. Let intelligent 
people decide if such teachers can safely be entertained by 
several million American citizens. 


TO THE HERO PATRIOT OF GERMANY. 


“ Safe in this Wartburg tower I stand 
Where God hath led me by the hand, 

Safe from the overwhelming blast 
Of the mouths of hell, that followed me fast, 
And the howling demons of despair 
That hunted mie to their lair. 

1 found 

A mystery of grief and pain. 

It was an image of the power 
Of Satan, hunting the world about. 

With his nets and traps and well-trained dogs, 
His bishops and priests and theologues. 

And all the rest of the rabble rout. 

Seeking whom he may devour ! 

'' Enough have I of hunting hares. 

The only hunting of any worth 
Is when I can pierce with javelins 
The cunning foxes and wolves and bears, 

The whole iniquitous troop of beasts. 

The Roman Pope and the Roman priests. 
That sorely infest and inflict the earth.” 


Have the highest authori- 
ties OF THE Roman Church 

CHARGED THEIR OWN PoPES 
WITH GROSS IMMORALITIES? 

The Council, seeing no other alternative, resolved to 
depose John for immorality. In the twelfth session his 
holiness was convicted of schism, heresy, incorrigible- 
ness, impiety, simony, fornication, incest, adultery, rape, 
piracy, lying, robbery, murder, perjury and infidelity. 

Action of Council of Constance on John XXIIL 

The Council convicted him of schism, heresy, error, 
pertinacity, incorrigibility and perjury. 

Action of Council of Constance on Benedict VIII^ 


PART IV. 


THE GREAT UPRISING IN GERMANY. 
home’s pursuit of LUTHER. 

Max Muller says : “ The real history of man is the his- 

tory of religion.” This calm and judicious opinion, is^ 
properly witnessed to by the testimony of history itself. 
The history of the civilizations of the pre-Christian ages is 
inextricably woven into the history of the Jewish religion. 
The history of the great Grecian civilization, the most ad- 
vanced state of civilization produced prior to the Christian 
era, drew its principal element from theGrecian religion. 

The history of law cannot be read, without reading the 
history of the Hebrew nation. The annals of science can- 
not be perused, without taking into account the heart-beats 
of religion. The great productions of art, and the equal- 
ly great compositions of music, tell in veins of marble, 
tones of color, and bars of melody, of the lofty emotions of 
religion. And the history of political progress in nations, 
runs parallel with their religious history. 

( 124 ) 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


125 


WHY THE MIDDLE AGES WEEE THE DARK AGES. 

Because of this fact, more than any other, the Middle 
Ages are called the Dark Ages. During this period there 
was no advance in any department of progress — except a 
mere local spurt here and there. There were no great un- 
derlying religious truths, and impulses, powerfully affect- 
ing thought and motive and inspiring action and effort. 
The Middle Ages bore no fruit, because there was no soil 
of religion. Religious decline always and everywhere 
means general stagnation. 

This very significant truth, that the history of religious 
advancement is mostly a corollary of religious history, is 
intensely shown in the light of the vast German Reforma- 
tion. This most wonderful movement was at first a general 
unrest, and then a moral awakening, that speedily swung 
about into a mighty religious upheaval and political revo- 
lution, in which the consciences of men, the doctrines of the 
Bible, and the ferments of religious liberty, on the one hand, 
and on the other, the dogmatic tyranny and gigantic hypoc- 
risies of the Papacy, which had gone to seed in wide-spread 
iniquity, were the elements in congestion. 

A vast amount of history was to be made in a single cen- 
tury ; but the working forces were almost wholly either re- 
ligious, or such as bore upon political liberties, which were 
assuming large proportions. 

NOTORIOUS DEBAUCHERY OF THE CLERGY. 

The condition of the Papal Church was the same as it 
had been in the preceding century, excepting it was now 
in a state of desperation. Pride, rapacity and ostentation 
characterized the lives of the cardinals, bishops and priests. 
In the lower ranks hardly one in a thousand could be found 
living a pious and honest life. By the testimony of trust- 


126 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


worthy Roman Catholic authority, the nunneries were 
brothels, rather than retreats from the world and sanctu- 
aries of religion. One of the most prominent cardinals, in 
a letter to the Pope, asserts that the feeling of the upright 
people had grown so strong against the priests, for neglect 
of their duties, and their notoriously immoral lives, that 
there was reason to fear that if a reform be not instituted, 
the whole structure of the Church might be overthrown. 

The whole previous career of the Popes was that of well 
authenticated debauchery. Papal vices, atrocities and 
tyrannies had well nigh suspended the last operations of 
civilization. At one time the Popes were engaged in wars 
for the sake of power, and pilfering the nations for the sake 
of gain. At another time they were given to all the show 
of gorgeous vanity, excelling the worldly display of oriental 
kings. Still again, they were expending energies and 
treasures in putting people to death by the most ingenious 
methods of torture. And still again, they were turning the 
pontifical palace into a house of revelry and licentiousness, 
rivaling the Turkish harems. Abandoned women reigned 
over the throne of the Popes. Such women as Theodora 
and Marozia, set up and put down Popes at their vile pleas- 
ure, and elevated to the Papacy their paramours’ sons and 
grandsons. The very slime of vice was attained when, in 
the twelfth century, Benedict IX. , a child brought up in 
debauchery, was made Pope. He was Pope at twelve years 
of age, and scandalized even that period of low morals by 
his immoralities. 


THE POPES CONDEMNED. 

The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were given to 
building up the temporal rule of the Popes, so the Papal 
energies were spent in this effort. In the fifteenth and six- 


TUE ROMAN PAPACY. 


127 


teenth centuries the Papacy again ran into vice and money 
making. Profligate men sat as Popes. And for a man to 
be elevated to that position, at once gave him the reputa- 
tion for being greatly qualified in gross immoralities. Men 
of thoughtful and moral lives cried mightily against the 
Papacy itself, and though they were Roman Catholics, they 
favored the overthrow of the Papal office and all its func- 
tions. A very respectable emperor of Austria spoke words 
which fell like a bursting doom upon Europe. In grieving 
over the treachery of Leo X. he exclaimed: “This Pope, 
like the rest, is, in my judgment, a scoundrel. Henceforth 
I can say, that in all my life no Pope has kept his faith or 
word with me. I hope, if God be willing, that this one will 
be the last of them.’’ 

The eloquent Savonarola, at Florence, hurled thunder- 
bolts against the unsupportable vices of Papal Rome. Rome 
replied to Savonarola with the Inquisition. Dante, the 
Shakespere of Italy, boldly placed the most powerful of 
the Popes in hell, and writes of St. Peter delivering severe 
and crushing judgments upon the Popes. Erasmus, the 
great scholar of his age, denounced in powerful writings 
and lectures the lives and follies of Popes and monks, and 
called for reform. 

BISHOPS AND CAEDIHALS EQUALLY COERUPT. 

Cardinals and bishops were no better than the Popes. 
Bold, bad men were in charge of the bishoprics. Boys ten 
and twelve years of age were made chaplains, and given 
places of distinction. The cardinals of the Council of Con- 
stance took a most binding oath, that he among them who 
should be elected Pope would not dissolve the Council, nor 
leave Constance, before the Church was thoroughly reformed. 
Cardinal Colonna, under the title of Martin Y., was chosen 


128 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Pope. As soon as the tiara was on his brow, he exclaimed : 
“The Council is at an end,” and the oath of twenty cardi- 
nals meant nothing. 

Many of the monasteries were no better than low taverns, 
and the nunneries came to be something far more repulsive. 

The Church could not reform itself. The ambitions of 
the Papacy were altogether worldly, and .those of the priest- 
hood mostly for pleasure and ease. The powers of the 
Church were in the keeping of the most infamous of men, 
who had no desire to improve religion, nor know how. As 
fast as true leaders arose to effect reform, they were led to 
the fire, or were cast into prison. The policy of the Papacy 
towards those who raised a hand, or uttered a word, against 
its power, was persecution. 

What a dei)arture there was in the E-oman Church, from 
that of the early Church of Christ ! In those early centuries 
the Church was a society of believers upon equality, and 
enjoying each other’s support and sympathy. In the six- 
teenth century the Poman Church was an absolute mon- 
archy, of the most tyrannical type, with the people cowed 
into submission. In the early days of the Church salvation 
by faith was lovingly held. By the sixteenth century 
Pome had turned salvation over to the keeping of the 
priests, who told the people to “renounce all comforts, and 
fall down before their priests, and implore for intercession 
and forgiveness.” It was taught that life was not long 
enough to enable man to expiate by works, pilgrimages and 
penances, his sins ; but he could do so in purgatory, where 
he could be helped by paying money in certain sums. 

THE KEASON AND EVIL OF PILGRIMAGES. 

At the beginning of the fourteenth century the pilgrim- 
ages to Pome began. The Pope decreed that once in a 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


129 


hundred years such a pilgrimage should be made to Borne'; 
and all who presented themselves in the pontifical city 
would receive full pardon for all past sins. The pilgrims 
reached the enormous number of two hundred thousand in 
a single month. Yast fortunes were left with the Pope. 
It was the greatest money-getting scheme the Papacy had 
yet devised. The temptation was too great for the Popes 
to be satisfied with one pilgrimage in a hundred years. 
Their avarice finally fixed the pilgrimage for every fifty 
years, then for every thirty- three, and then for every twenty- 
five ; and then at last appointed a large number of certain 
centers throughout Europe, where the pilgrimages could be 
made. 


BUYING HIS WAY TO THE PONTIFICAL CHAIE. 

With the increase of wealth. Papal vice and crime grew 
amazingly, until the view was rapidly spreading among 
thinking people that the Vatican was a great metropolitan 
brothel. The notorious Bodrigo Borgia, cardinal and arch- 
bishop, was living at Borne in illicit relations Avith a Boman 
woman, and then with her daughter, by Avhom he had five 
children. He was living with the abandoned Bosa Yanoz- 
za, when the pontifical throne became vacant by the death 
of Innocent YIIL He began to purchase the votes of the 
cardinals, and succeeded in bribing enough to make him 
Pope. Four mules loaded with silver were unloaded at the 
palace of Sf orza, where lived the most powerful of the cardi- 
nals. This Pope was the outrageous Alexander I., who the 
day of his coronation made his dissolute son an archbishop, 
and held festivities in the Vatican, which reminds us of the 
Babylonian revelries of the day of Belshazzar. The cele- 
brated Infessura says, that during the reign of this Pope, 


130 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


‘^most of the ecclesiastics had their mistresses, and all the 
convents of the capital were houses of ill-fame.” This was 
a Catholic writer. A Protestant writer, D’ Aubigne, draws 
this picture of this reign : N’ightly assassinations took 

place in the streets of Pome. Poison often destroyed those 
whom the dagger could not reach. Every one feared to 
move or breathe, lest he should be the next victim. The 
spot on earth where all iniquity met and overflowed was 
the Pontiff’s seat. The dissolute entertainments given by 
the Pope, and his daughter Lucrezia, are such as can neith- 
er be described nor thought of. The most impure groves 
of ancient worship saw not the like.” 

i A GAME AT POISON. 

This Pope became tired of a wealthy cardinal. He had pre- 
pared a delicate poison, which was put in some sweetmeats 
and placed on the table after a feast. The cardinal having 
a hint of what awaited him, bribed over the attendant, had 
the plate of poison delicacy exchanged, and placed in front 
of the Pope. He ate and perished. 

And so the vice, crime, evil and corruption spread wider 
and grew deeper. The corruption of morals ran parallel 
with the corruption of the faith. 

Political reformers had tried to weaken the power of 
Home, and clear her political atmosphere at least. The 
Austrian ruler had tried it and failed. The House of Ho- 
henstaufen, imperial family of Germany, and heroes every 
one of them, sought to deliver the empire from the Papal 
bondage. Henry lY. had thrown all his courage, power and 
patriotism into the struggle, to humiliate Home and save 
Germany the humiliation of a vassalage to the profligate 
Popes. He bent every energy, taxed every resource, ex- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


131 


liausted every means, and at last was compelled to bear tlie 
most shameful humiliation to which ruler was ever driven 
by the Papacy. In the trenches of the Italian castle of 
Canossa, in mid-winter, bare foot, with loose garment 
about him, upon his knees, he spent three days and nights, 
imploring the forgiveness of th*e Pope. 

PAPAL INFLUENCE A FACT IN THE UNITED STATES. 

If we want to know the power of this Papal influence, 
which is only too supreme in the United States, we see it 
in such revelations as we have here. If we want to know 
what the character of the Papacy has been, we have it here. 
That tyranny which knows not how to relent ; that cruelty 
which knows only the savor of malice ; that bigotry which 
has given no voluntary instance of tolerance; that vice 
which has produced the most profligate excesses ; that crime 
which has shown no disposition to be checked — these are 
to be found in the old historic Papacy. It is unchanged 
in heart. Give the Papal population in our country that 
majority it once had in Germany, and we would have the 
same moral and political disorders. Papal influence will 
continue to corrupt law and imperil institutions in our day, 
as it has in the past. The greatest corrupting influences 
in America to-day are traceable to the Papal forces at work 
in our midst. 

Up to the sixteenth century Pome had kept a fairly strong 
control of the nations, through their fear of her. In the 
prosecution of this policy the Reformed Bohemians had 
been well nigh exterminated. In the river, in the fire, by 
the sword, thousands fell. While thousands more were 
thrown into the old mines of Kuttenberg. In one pit 
were thrown seventeen hundred ; in another thirteen 


132 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


linndred and eight, and in a third thirteen hundred and 
twenty-one. So it need not appear strange to us, that there 
were so few to cry out against the evils which had ripened 
in the nursing arms of the Papacy, when we remember that 
the weak were frightened and the brave were killed. 

THE ADVENT OF A LEADEE. 

But Germany was getting tired of this great fraud, with 
headquarters on the Tiber. The nation had been humbled 
so often, and so shameful had been the treatment extended 
to her, that the day for resistance had come, and there was 
to be a reckoning which Kome would not like. The six- 
teenth century was fairly started on its eventful career, 
when from the ranks of the common people a leader came 
to the front, who was to usher in the mightiest moral and 
political reformation the world had known, and become 
himself one of the most monumental men of all the centur- 
ies. That man was Martin Luther, the miner’s son. 

Carlyle’s estimate of Luther is no less true to history, 
than it is matchless in elegance : “I will call Luther a true, 
great man— great in intellect, in courage, in affection, and 
integrity ; one of our most lovable and precious men. Hero 
and prophet, a true son of nature and fact, for whom 
these centuries, and many that are yet to come, will be 
thankful to heaven.” 

HOW GEEAT MEN AEE LINKED TOGETHEE. 

Martin Luther came in natural descent from John Wyclif 
and John Huss. The “ Morning Star of the Eeformation,” 
which rose in England, and grew into the full dawn of the 
Bohemian Eeformation, helped to bring forth the day, 
with all the golden light of its growing promise. The view 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


133 


is a most glorious one. The hand of John Huss took the 
torch of the Reformation from the hand of Wyclif, and 
reaching forward one hundred years, placed it in the hand, 
of Luther. We read in the Bible about mountain speaking 
unto mountain, and hill calling to hill. Elevated on the 
moral heights of big ideas, lofty notions, and courageous 
purposes, sanctified of God, great men, renowned in the 
affairs of moral truths, and conversant with noble princi- 
ples, though they may be separated by continents, and re- 
moved from each other by generations, call to one another. 
They salute each other with the salutations of their com- 
mon work and suffering. They stand linked to each other 
like a chain of unbroken parts. The distance in time, be- 
tween Augustine and Wyclif, was nine centuries, but in 
similarity of views, and in the communion of the same great 
truths, they were near neighbors. The teachings of Wyclif 
traveled fifty years in time, and a thousand miles in dis- 
tance, to reach Huss. But the heart of Wyclif is hardly 
hushed in death, ere that of Huss has caught the same in- 
spiration and zeal for the truth of God, and the deep pur- 
pose to make the Bible the guide in life and thought. 

The dark, impure and stormy ocean of European politics 
sweeps angrily between Huss and Luther, but over this wild 
water they grasp each other by the hand. Luther calls to 
Calvin, and Calvin’s arm is interlocked in that of John 
Knox; so those who are schooled in the knowledge of God, 
eminent in piety of heart, and heroic in the pursuit of 
settled purposes, keep the lights lit on the upper heights, 
as they call to each other to bring on the world. 

GREATNESS CRADLED BY POVERTY. 

As we step into the seething, troubled sixteenth century, 
we see a man who is the child of Providence, and is, in a 


134 


THE ROMAE' PAPACY. 


peculiar sense, under the protectorate of heaven. The 
Bible somewhere propounds this question, Hath not God 
chosen the poor of this world The eminent of earth, if 
they are the chosen of God, are most frequently fostered in 
want, and schooled under daily hunger. Zwingli came 
from a shepherd’s hut; Malancthon, from an armorer’s 
work shop ; Luther from a miner’s cottage ; Calvin from an 
humble French village home. Whitefield learned to preach 
while he was scrubbing the kitchen floors of an English Inn. 
Livingstone was trained for a missionary life in a cotton 
mill, at sixty cents a week. Hear the little village of Eisle- 
ben, was the great Thuringian forest, in which the boy, 
Martin Luther, gathered his bundles of wood, and carried 
them through the village to sell ; and from such a life went 
forth the one who was destined to recast vital Christianity. 
While a school boy, often pressed with hunger, he sang in 
the streets to earn a morsel of black bread. And often he 
was denied even a morsel, and sought his humble lodgings 
weakened by hunger and overwhelmed by sorrow. And 
yet that hungry German school boy is appointed of God to 
strike a light, the brightness of which shall never dim, and 
the glory of which shall never fade. Yerily, ‘'God hath 
chosen the weak things to confound the mighty.” 

It was during these school days that Luther had a lesson 
in confidence in God, which stood him well in hand during 
the later severe trials and persecutions of his life. One day, 
while seeking hard to supply his hunger, he was repulsed 
from three houses. Weak and discouraged, he was about 
to retire to his room to fast, when, in a moment of absent- 
mindedness, he paused in front of a house, and bent his 
head in sad reflections. Must he, for want of food, throw 
up his studies, and change the whole desires of his life, and 
go with his father into the mines of Mansfield ? Suddenly 
a door opens in front of him, and the wife of the house 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


135 


stands on tlie step. She had seen the young man in the 
religious assemblies, and his manner of earnest devotion 
had made an impression on her which had been remembered. 
She had known something of the sorrow and want of the 
poor youth, who was so anxious to procure an advanced 
education. She beckoned him to enter, and graciously sup- 
plied his immediate wants. In a very few days the family 
took him into their own home, with all its comforts and 
plenty, and shared them with him. In the moment when 
he greatly feared his next step would be homeward bent, 
God opened for him a Christian home. And thus his con- 
fidence in God was established in a way that the thunder of 
the Pope’s anger, the threat of the emperor, or the cunning 
and crafty plans of men to destroy him, could never shake. 
It was a little incident with a big result, affecting not only 
his own life, but as well the entire course of the Reforma- 
tion movement throughout Europe, and remotely, the des- 
tiny of whole nations. It may well be thought that this 
instance of apparent Providence had a great deal to do with 
the composition of that most remarkable of the Reforma- 
tion hymns, Luther’s great feste burg ist unser 

— “ A safe stronghold our God is still.” Most noticeable 
in this hymn is the majestic breathing of calm, abiding 
trust in God. And this was the very spirit of the German. 
Reformation. 

Many years after this incident in the life of Luther, iu 
memory of that Christian woman’s kindness, in giving him 
bread when he sorely hungered, and others denied him a 
morsel, he spoke that memorable saying: “There is noth- 
ing sweeter than the heart of a pious woman.” 

TWENTY YEAKS OLD BEFOEE HE SAW A BIBLE. 

It appears that Luther was twenty years old before he 
saw a copy of the Bible. And so rare was this book every- 


136 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


where, until the Protestant awakening forced Pome to allow 
it to be read by the people. The Bible conduces to civil 
and religious freedom, and hence Pome has never been the 
friend of the Bible. Luther had been at the university of 
Urfurth two years, when one day he was examining some 
books in the library and he came upon a Bible. He was 
strangely moved. He read the title. He was filled with a 
strange emotion as his eye lingered on the history of Sam- 
uel. He read if hurriedly, with pleasure and joy. All he 
knew of the Bible was a knowledge of the fragments read 
by the priests on Sundays in the places of worship. He 
had often wished in his heart that the good Lord would 
some day give him such a book. 

During the time he spent at the university he had never 
heard a gospel sermon or lecture. This discovery of a Bible 
was like a cool, refreshing draught of water. He felt a 
transport of pleasure in his communion with this Latin 
Bible. And the ‘‘Peformation lay hid in that Bible.’’ 
Luther is to take his stand on it. He will refer every ques- 
tion, which comes to him for solution, to it, for settlement. 

Within four years of this time he was giving daily lec- 
tures on the Bible. Out of it he built up a system of faith, 
principles of life, and theory of free salvation. In his hands 
the Bible was a text book of patriotism and good govern- 
ment. Luther was beginning to do for Germany, what 
Huss had lost his life for doing for Bohemia. 

Then came a journey to Pome. Some difficulty had arisen 
in one of the monastic orders, and he had been deputized 
to Pome to settle it. On his way to the Papal capital, he 
lodges in a convent in Lombardy. He is amazed at the 
magnificence of the apartments, the richness of the dresses, 
and the delicacy of the viands. Marble, silk and luxury 
all about him, and his heart sinks. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


137 


BUFFOONERY IN THE POPE’S PALACE. 

In Rome lie is startled at the profane and heartless way- 
in which the sacraments are celebrated, and at the jokes 
and buffoonery of the prelates ; while he was profoundly 
shocked at the evident hypocrisy displayed at the mass. 
He listened to abominations, profanities and blasphemies 
he had never dreamed possible with any class. He says : 
‘‘ It is incredible what sins and atrocities are committed in 
Rome.’’ The excessive corruption of the Papal society 
must have been so general and obtrusive, as to convince 
him of the fundamental evil of the Papacy. ‘‘If there be 
a hell,” he writes, “ Rome is built above it ; it is an abyss, 
from whence all sins proceed.” 

One day, while in Rome, he ascends Pilate’s stairway, 
on his knees, as was the custom. But his thoughts were 
on the light he had received out of the Bible. Suddenly a 
voice seemed to say to him : “The just shall live by faith.” 
He sprang to his feet, and fled from the place of such folly. 
So his visit at Rome is over. But it was providential, for 
LuthePs eyes are open, and henceforth he thinks of Rome, 
not as the holy seat of the universal religion of the Lord on 
earth ; but he will remember it as the very pest house of all 
that was vile and bigoted. 

He went to Rome to seek a solution of some monastic 
question ; he returned with that feeling of loathing for 
Rome in his heart, which should henceforth prompt him to 
work to emancipate Christianity from the rule of the 
Papacy. The light was in him when he went to Rome ; it 
was ready to blaze forth when he returned. His heart was 
right before ; now his conscience was aroused. 

Shortly after this the Pope opened in Germany the great 
market for the sale of indulgences. This merchandise was 


138 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


simply a traffic in sins. Tlie people believed that as soon 
as their money was given they were certain of forgiveness, 
and by the same means they could deliver the souls of their 
dead friends from the fires of purgatory. A separate sec- 
tion of this book will be devoted to this most stupendous 
fraud of the Papacy. We are concerned now with Luther’s 
relation to the evil, and Rome’s persecution of him. 

Luther’s great vow. 

When he first heard of the work of the auctioneer of 
these indulgences in Germany, he exclaimed; “God will- 
ing, I will make a hole in his drum.” He did. One day 
a number of persons came to him to confess their sins. 
They confessed to the grossest vices, and the most enormous 
crimes. He rebuked and instructed them. His astonish- 
ment increased when they declared that they did not intend 
to abandon any of their sins, and boldly i)roduced their 
certificates of pardon, which they had received for money 
paid. Luther at once went into the pulpit, and delivered 
a powerful sermon. It was circulated throughout the em- 
pire. It brought on a storm. It was while that storm was 
brewing that Luther determined upon a bold thing. 

HIS GREAT INDICTMENT. 

He determined to cast himself into the conflict, and stand 
between the people and the shameful impositions practiced 
upon them under the sanction of the Pope. He threw the 
guage of battle down, when on the memorable evening of 
October 31st, 1517, he went to the cathedral door at Wittem- 
berg and nailed to the panel, ninety-five arguments against 
the sale of indulgences, which was practically an impeach- 
ment of the Papal authority. He denied the power of the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


13 ^ 


Pope to pardon any sin, or to deputize any one else to do 
so. He assailed the popular idea that the Pope had any 
power over purgatory. He accused the venders of the in- 
dulgences of being engaged in an impudent and blasphe- 
mous work. In these great arguments he makes public 
statement of justification by faith, which truth was the 
very spring of the Peformation in Germany. 

THE COMING OF THE AVALANCHE. 

Now the war had to come, and come with all the malice 
and power of Home. From the Pope down to the monks, 
the ’whole hierarchy was struck dumb by this bold, unex- 
pected act committed by one who the leaders of the Papacy 
had scarcely yet heard of. Germany was thrilled. Europe 
stood still, and wondered. Men asked what it meant. The 
more thoughtful classes were in sympathy with the theses 
of Luther. Those were copied, and circulated with great 
rapidity throughout Europe, and the most stupendous mor- 
al struggle the world ever saw was begun. Central Europe 
was about to be swept down upon with a terrible avalanche. 

It was one of the instructive lessons of history, most im- 
pressively taught, but one which we are slow to be admon- 
ished by, that a suffering people will long permit an organ- 
ized evil to oppress them ; but when endurance has reached 
its end, tyrants will be shown no mercy. The Papal pow- 
er, which so greatly oppressed the German jjeople, is push- 
ing to desperation fifty millions of. Americans. If the Pope 
will thrust his unwelcome rule upon this country, he must 
expect to take the settlement some day. It may be de- 
layed ; it cannot be prevented. And when that settlement 
comes, the Papacy will find she has received the greatest 
blow she has had this century. 


140 


THE PMIAN PAPACY. 


Luther followed up the attack he nailed to the cathedral 
door with eloquent addresses issued to the German people. 
Within a year he became the hero of the nation. The stu- 
dents to whom he lectured at Wittemberg increased from a 
little over two hundred to almost six hundred. He appealed 
to the country. He plead for national self-respect. He 
urged the people to be independent and demand their 
rights, and no longer be subjugated to the Pope. “Why 
should three hundred thousand florins be sent every year 
from Germany to Rome P’ Luther was exercising the right 
of freedom of action, and teaching the nation freedom in 
political and religious thought. This was a course Rome has 
never quietly withstood. 

The Pope promptly responded by excommunicating Lu- 
ther. The people replied to the Pope by burning the ex- . 
communication. The Pope was incensed as well as grieved, 
and with great assumption of authority called upon the 
German Emperor to settle the matter and punish Luther, 
Events of most stupendous meaning were moving fast. The 
emperor would soon be asked to call a Diet, or ecclesiastical 
court, at the city of Worms. Luther would be summoned 
to Rome, but the Pope would not be able to persuade any 
of the German princes to admit of this. In the Pope’s 
order to the emperor he directed that if Luther “should 
persist in his subbornness, and you fail to get possession of 
his person, we give you power to proscribe him in all places 
in Germany ; to put away and excommunicate all those 
who are attached to him, and to enjoin all Christians to 
shun their society.” 

THE POPE CAX DEPRIVE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF PROPERTY. 

The order of persecution went on in still greater vicious- 
ness. If the laity do not obey “your orders, without de- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


141 


lay, or demur, we declare tliem reprobate, unable to per- 
form any lawful act, disentitled to Christian burial, and 
deprived of all fiefs which they may hold, from any law 
whatever.” 

So spoke the Roman despot, in his written directions to 
Germany to proceed against Luther. It would be very hard 
to find an instance of greater presumption, or more excessive 
malice, than here displayed by the Pope. And yet the 
arrogance, bigotry and maliciousness displayed are no 
greater than belong to the Papal regime of all time. 

Already Luther had written a letter to Pope Leo X., 
whom he thought directed by a spirit of love and justice. 
In this letter he expressed his surprise that he should be 
overwhelmed with such reproachful names as heretic, apos- 
tate and traitor, because he had stood for a pure Church, 
and withstood the avarice of the priests. He further de- 
clared that he could not retract what he had said and done 
out of a pure and quiet conscience. He petitions the Pope 
to instruct him, and command him ; and closed the letter 
with the refiection that if he deserved death, he would not 
refuse to die. 


THE PLOT TO TRY HIM IN ROME. 

The only effect was that Luther was summoned to Rome, 
within sixty days to appear, and submit to trial before a 
Papal court, at the head of which the Pope had placed the 
reformer’s bitter enemy, Piarias. All Wittemberg was in 
consternation over the summons to Rome. If Luther went 
he would be in the power of his enemies ; if he declined to 
go he would be condemned for contumacy. The Pope had 
given order for the emperor and princess to be excited 
against Luther. So whichever way he turned he was to be 


142 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


crushed. Influential friends, and the elector, and members 
of the university, wrote letters using their influence against 
the plan of the Pope to take Luther to Pome. Finally the 
Pope’s legate received orders to try him in Germany, and 

to prosecute and reduce him to submission without delay.” 

During these events the young Melancthon came to Wit- 
temberg. He was the most learned man in the nation, and 
was to become a mighty power among the intellectual classes. 
All Lis attainments were savored with the sweet spirit of 
the Gospel. He gave Luther great help in his work of 
translating the Bible. Their friendship became fast and 
memorable. The work of rendering the Scriptures in the 
German language was going rapidly on, when one day, the 
order came for Luther to appear before the legate of the 
Pope at Augsberg. 

How the storm was beating over his head, and was to 
grow in bitterness and wrath. He had at last to deal with 
a prince of the Church, who had received final powers to 
go to the utmost to exterminate this man, who had pro- 
ceeded to search the Scriptures without the assent of Home. 
This natural disposition of a bright mind to think without 
asking permission of any man, and the equally natural dis- 
position to express the honest thoughts about the Bible, 
Home never has permitted, where she had the power to 
prevent it. ‘ To think independently of Home has always 
been considered a grievous crime. 

THE DAHGEES WHICH BESET LUTHEE. 

Luther’s friends besought him not to set forth for Augs- 
berg. The danger was too great. Many wanted to conceal 
him, lest his life be lost. A pious monk— there were a few 
such — offered to give him a safe hiding place, so long as he 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


143 


should live. Upon every side came warning. The Count 
of Mansfeld sent to advise him not to undertake the jour- 
ney to Augsberg, as a number of powerful nobles had bound 
themselves by oath to seize and strangle, or drown him. 
But with a spirit intrepid, and a heart full of faith, Luther 
proposed to obey the summons. He set out on foot, all 
alone, and having no safe-conduct, except letters from the 
elector to several counselors at Augsberg. On the way he 
was warned, and by not a few importuned to return, and 
save himself the danger of imprisonment, which all felt 
was awaiting him, as the mildest of the several probable 
perils which lay in his path. 

THE CUESE OF FOEEIGN EULE. 

At Weimer a friend said to him: ‘‘My brother, you 
have to meet Italians at Augsberg. They will cast you into 
the fire, and the fiames will consume you.’’ From Nurem- 
berg some friends accompanied him, as an escort to Augs- 
berg. He entered the town in safety, informed the legate 
of his presence, and awaited his orders. The cunning le- 
gate sent a crafty Italian diplomat to make it easy for him 
to retract. He found that Luther was not made of the 
ordinary material, of most of those who were brought up for 
holding opinions which Home had not formally approved. 
Finding that the reformer was settled in his position, he in- 
structed him how he should appear before the legate. His 
instructions show the infamous despotism and pride of the 
Koman courts. He said to Luther : “When you enter the 
room where he is sitting, you must prostrate yourself with 
your face to the ground; when he tells you to rise, you 
must kneel before him, and you must not stand erect until 
he orders you to do so. Remember that it is before a prince 
of the Church that you are about to appear.” 


144 


THE ROMAN PAP ACT, 


The messenger from the legate tried to induce Luther to 
attend upon the cardinal forthwith. But the elector’s 
friends would not consent for him to go until he had been 
furnished with a safe-conduct from the emperor. The fol- 
lowing day was Sunday. The messenger from the cardinal 
came again and said : “The cardinal sends you assurances 
of grace and favor. Why are you afraid V ’ In every pos- 
sible way he sought to persuade him. But he was resolute. 
On Monday morning the legate’s agent again appeared^ 
and finding it useless to proceed further became irritated, 
and hinted at what Luther might expect. “ When all for- 
sake you, where will you take refuge?” Luther smiled, 
and looking upwards replied : ‘ ‘ Under heaven. ’ ’ Presently 
the safe-conduct was placed in his hands ; and yet Luther 
could not help but remember that a safe-conduct from the 
emperor did not save Huss from the fire. 

The cardinal legate called a conference before Luther ap- 
peared before him, to consult on the best way to deal with 
the German monk. One was for compelling him to retract, 
another wanted to throw him into prison, another wanted 
to take his life, and one thought it best to try to win him 
over to think as they had orders from the Pope to make 
him think. 

When the reformer appeared in the room of the legate’s 
court, it was crowded with Italians, who were expecting an 
easy time of it, and were on hand to see the discomfiture of 
Luther. They thought he would at once fall before the 
Pope’s deputy and recant all. The legate demanded a re- 
traction on two propositions, which covered Luther’s at- 
tack on the Papacy. Luther had said that the ‘‘indul- 
gences did not consist of the merits and sufferings of Christ,” 
and that the “ man who received the holy sacrament must 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


145 


have in him the grace offered to him.” These were heavy 
blows, and it was decided that Luther must recall them. 
He promptly declined, declaring that he could not go con- 
trary to his faith and conscience. The first meeting was a 
failure. The next day the legate said : “Retract ; such is 
the Pope’s will. Whether it be your will or not, matters 
little.” The next day Luther presented a final answer in 
writing. The legate threw it on the fioor, and exclaimed : 
“ Retract, or I will send you to Rome. Ho you imagine 
that the Pope can fear Germany ? The Pope’s little finger 
is stronger than all the princes of Germany.” 

The legate finally agreed not to press Luther on the ques- 
tion of faith, if he would only withdraw his opposition ta 
the indulgences. Upon which, one of the high dignitaries 
standing by said, that it was “evident that Rome attaches 
more importance to money than to our holy faith and to the 
salvation of souls.” 

Luther had spent about a week in Augsburg, and all to 
no purpose. He was neither acquitted, nor yet condemned. 
The legate would not see him again, nor reply to his letters. 
The reformer was now to leave. He once more wrote a let- 
ter to the legate, apprising him of his departure, and con- 
taining the characteristic sentence : “I have committed no 
crime; I ought therefore to have no fear.” He also wrote 
an appeal to the Pope, and left it in the charge of friends 
to be posted on the door of the cathedral. This was done. 

Luther went direct to Wittemberg. The legate wrote a 
letter to the elector, and poured out his complaint against 
him because he befriended the reformer. Luther wrote the 
elector that he would go into exile to save him from un- 
pleasant complications with the Papacy, and for his own 
personal safety. 


146 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


AN ADDITIONAL BLOW TO THE PAPACY. 

Things made another turn, and Luther took an appeal to 
a general council. This was an additional blow to the 
Papacy. Pope Pius II. had pronounced excommunication 
against any one, though he be the emperor, who should so 
impugn the supreme authority of the Pope. The general 
feeling of the German people so endorsed the position of 
Luther that the Pope became alarmed, and suddenly made 
overtures for reconciliation. Rome always so acts when 
she wants to allay popular indignation and mistrust. She 
is playing that card in the United States at present. And 
as Rome plays this act of high deception it is difficult to 
tell, whether her spirit of hypocrisy, or ways of sophistry, 
excel. 

In carrying out his attempt at reconciliation, the Pope 
dispatched a special nuncio to Germany. Along the tedious, 
and to Luther disgusting, road of praise, flattery and per- 
suasion of a mild retraction, he argued. The net was set 
with a skillful hand. 

Luther graciously replied that he was willing to admit 
lie may have been a little too violent. “Yes, I am willing 
to do everything, and bear everything ; but as to a retrac- 
tion, don’t expect it from me.” 

Whilst these fruitless efforts at conciliation were going 
on, Luther was boldly advancing to a step, which he did 
not foresee himself. The cause of truth was moving up, 
with a growing power that was sweeping him on farther 
than he knew. His sermons at Wittemberg, and as well 
his lectures, were heard by immense multitudes. The most 
distinguished young men of the empire flocked the univer- 
sity. Luther wrote to a friend : “ Our city can scarce hold 
the numbers that are coming. The students increase upon 
us like the overwhelming tide.” 


THE BOMAH PAPACY. 


147 


His writings were no less rapidly spreading. In tlie low 
countries tliey were read with eagerness, as they awakened 
emotions and created agitation. Six hundred copies went 
to France and Spain. They were sold openly in Paris, the 
faculty of the great university reading them with interest 
and considerable sympathy. They were read in England 
with far greater eagerness. A large quantity was conveyed 
into Italy, and was put into quiet circulation about the 
Yatican. Many of the literary men of Italy were soon cir- 
culating tributary epistles. The Heformation had an in- 
dependent start in Switzerland ; but in all other countries 
of the continent of Europe, Luther’s writings make the first 
page of the sixteenth century Reformation. 

kome’s batteky of lies. 

Presently a new advocate of the Papacy arose. He ex- 
pected to enlarge his own glory by derailing Luther. This 
was the low and bigoted Eck, a doctor in the university of 
Ingolsladt. He began by circulating a lengthy argument, 
full of the most untruthful statements of history and fact. 
Luther could not be quiet. Rome had opened the battle 
herself. He had but to reply. The subject now turned 
upon the question of the Pope’s primacy. Luther had 
routed Rome in his charge of priestly corruption, and the 
iniquities at the Yatican, and on the indulgences and her un- 
Biblical doctrines of faith. How Rome opens the way to 
be defeated on the discussion of her primacy. Luther took 
the stand that the temporal primacy was not established 
until the eleventh century. 

kome’s opposition to free speech. 

Persecution opened its fire along the whole line of Rome’s 
fortifications. The Pope scolded, the bishops fumed, the 


148 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


priests calumniated, as they always do. In the Campas 
Floralis, at Rome, Martin Luther was burned in effigy. A 
public discussion was to be held at Leipsic, and Luther 
greatly desired to take a hand. But the reigning prince 
would only allow him to be present as a spectator. The 
local bishop was afraid that the cause of the Papacy would 
be much injured by this free inquiry, and as the reformers, 
Luther, Melancthon and Carlstadt (who were to debate with 
Eck), entered the city, accompanied by a couple hundred of 
the Wittemberg students, he caused an order to be posted 
on the churches prohibiting the discussion, on pain of ex- 
communication. This is a customary spirit for Rome to 
show towards free speech. Had the Pope the power he 
would prohibit every attempted patriotic lecture in America. 
Rome knows that a policy of toleration of free speech would 
be destructive to her. 

The reigning prince, Duke George of Saxony, had just 
entered the city, with all his court. Indignant at the au- 
dacity of the bishop, he ordered the city council to tear 
down the notice, and imprison the bishop’s agent. 

At the last moment the duke consented for Luther to be 
Eck’ s principal antagonist. A large apartment in the roy- 
al palace had been prepared for the debate. It lasted twen- 
ty days, and was one of the most noted contests of the age. 
The general subject was the liberty attaching to free moral 
agency. This involved the primal authority of the Pope 
overman’s free agency in investigating truth and determin- 
ing his own moral actions. Eck declared that the Roman 
Church was a monarchy, wherein everything ascends 
through the hierarchy to its head, the Pope, who held his 
authority direct from Christ through Peter. The debate 
had a great effect on many in high places, and especially 
did it work like a leaven among the students of the uni- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


149 


versity, whose head men were engaged in the debate. Luth- 
er came out with great triumph for his Reformation views. 

eome’s influence in elections. 

Now comes another turn. The German Emperor dies, 
and there are three claimants for the crown. The king of 
England withdraws, the king of France is rejected, and the 
hereditary Prince Charles, grandson of the late emperor, is 
chosen by the Diet at Frankfort. The Pope had a hand in 
this to be sure, and his emissaries were present, seeking to 
shape things as most satisfactory to the Papacy. In elec- 
tions of kings and presidents in all the last ten centuries, 
Rome has played a hand wherever she saw an opening. 
The influence of Rome, in the elections in the United States, 
is all potent, and not for any good. Charles was already 
King of Spain, Naples and Sicily, and laid claim to the 
American continent, through the discovery of a Spanish 
subject. 

The stormy clouds again lower about Luther. The lower 
classes were urged to persecute. The universities of Lor- 
raine and Cologne condemned his works. The priests of 
Meissen openly announced, that whosoever should kill 
Luther would be without sin. Men carried weapons to slay 
him. A high ecclesiastic wrote the elector of Saxony that 
he should be stoned everywhere in open day. German 
agents of the Papacy kept up a continuous regime of in- 
trigue. 


A TEUTHFUL BUT TEEEIBLE CHAEGE. 

Luther said, in the summer of 1520, that the time to be 
silent was past, and published an appeal, destined to be 
celebrated. It was addressed to the emperor and nobles. 
In this he charged that the Papacy was on the side of hell, 


150 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


as it made tlie Pope’s power superior to all else, and be- 
cause it liad fallen into such evil as to make it a stench in 
the nostrils of the nations. This appeal spread through 
Germany with marvelous rapidity. His friends trembled, 
his foes fumed, the Pope stood aghast. The idea became 
wide spread that the Pope was anti-Christ. Pome must 
now hurl her most terrible judgments. The condemnation 
of Luther was determined upon. 

The Pope issued his bull condemning to the flames all 
his writings, and directing him to recant in sixty days, or 
appear in Pome in person ; and if he did not obey within 
the stipulated time, himself and all his partisans were to 
be seized, and sent to Pome. What a grist that would 
have been for the mill of the Poman dungeons to be sure. 
When Luther was made acquainted with the bull of the 
Pope, he exclaimed : ‘‘ 'Now I know that the Pope is anti- 

Christ, and his chair is that of Satan.” 

He wuites a letter to the Pope, in which he charges that 
the corruption of the Papal court is greater than that of 
Sodom and Gomorrah, that it exceeded that of the Turks in 
vice and profligacy, and that there was no hope of curing its 
impiety. 

The Pope’s nuncio demanded an audience of the elector 
of Saxony, and required two things of him in the name of 
Pome; first, that he cause Luther’s works to be burned, 
and second, that he deliver the reformer himself up a pris- 
oner to the Pope. 

Luther alone remained unmoved. He imposed his trust 
in a high power. 

He saw that the crisis was at hand. A great Diet of the 
German states was called to convene at Worms. The prin- 
cipal topic was to be the Peformation, or the case of Luther. 
The Pope’s nuncio delivered an address before the Diet, 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


151 


which lasted three hours, and had the effect of inflaming 
the members, so that a majority of the princes were ready to 
sacrifice Luther. The general feeling was that he should be 
delivered up to the Pope, or be put to death. The Emper- 
or agreed to cite him to appear before the Diet, but deny 
him a safe-conduct. Had this purjDose been carried out, 
Luther would have had the fate of Huss and Jerome. But 
the princes, fearing a general uprising of the people, which 
would sweep everything before it, prevailed upon the em- 
peror to provide a safe-conduct. 

While things were thus proceeding, Rome suddenly re- 
sounded with the solemn excommunication, and Luther 
was cursed by the Pope. At once the pulpits of the Fran- 
ciscan and Dominican monks rang with imprecations and 
maledictions, furious and vicious. 

LUTHER m THE HOUR OF THE CRISIS. 

Luther was ready to obey the citation to the city of 
Worms, from whence he expected never to return. He pre- 
pared, and started forth. His journey resembled a triumph- 
ant procession. The people everywhere did him honor. 
And constantly was he warned. ‘ ‘ You will be burned alive, 
and your body will be reduced to ashes,” said one, “as 
they did with John Huss.” Luther replied : “Though they 
should kindle a fire, whose flames should reach from Worms 
to Wittemberg, and rise up to heaven, I would go through 
it in the name of the Lord, and stand before them. I 
would enter the jaws of the behemoth, break his teeth, 
and confess the Lord Jesus Christ.” A servant came 
with a message from a friend. Luther read the advice 
to turn back. Still unmoved, he said to the servant : “Go 
tell your master, though there should be as many devils at 


152 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Worms as there are tiles in its roofs, I would enter it.” 

As he entered the city, he was accompanied by a greater 
crowd than gathered at the entry of the emperor. When 
he was conducted to the Diet, the streets, doors and win- 
dows, the very houses themselves, were packed with peo- 
ple. The passage way had to be cleared by the imperial 
soldiers. As he was about to pass the door a hand was ex- 
tended towards him. It was that of an old general, who 
said earnestly: “Poor monk, poor monk, thou hast a 
struggle to go through such as neither I nor many other 
captains have seen the like in our most bloody battles. 
But if thy cause be just, and thou art sure of it, go forward 
in God’s name, and fear nothing!” 

The speeches of accusation were made, and Luther made 
his reply. Two hundred judges, the emperor, electors, 
dukes, archbishops, bishops, priests, embassadors, princes, 
counts, barons, the Pope’s nuncio — such the judicatory be- 
fore whom he gave testimony of the faith that was in him. 
At the end he exclaimed : “I cannot submit my faith either 
to the Pope, or to the council. I neither can, nor will, re- 
tract any thing. I stand here and can say no more, — God 
help me.” 

The assembly was speechless. The emperor expressed 
his wonder at such moral grandeur. Luther withdrew. 
The chancellor said : “ The Diet will meet to-morrow morn- 
ing to hear the emperor’s decision.” And the kings and 
princes of earth went out into the night, and it seemed very 
dark indeed. 

It was dark all over Europe. In Switzerland the fires 
were kindling. War was impending with France. The 
Pope was secretly negotiating two treaties, one with the 
German emperor against the French king, and the other 
with the French king against the German emperor. This 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


153 


is Pope-like. These complications will revolve rapidly and 
ominously for the Papacy. 

The next day the emperor, without consulting the Diet, 
as was customary, declared against Luther. He would dis- 
miss the reformer, (only because he had a safe -conduct) and 
then proceed to take means against him. 

VALUE OF PAPAL PROMISES. 

The Papal party urged that Luther’s safe-conduct should 
not be respected. His ashes ought “ to be thrown into the 
Rhine,” they said, “as was the fate of John Huss.” This 
is Rome, always and everywhere, making a pledge, offering 
protection, promising safety, and then with perfect com- 
posure proceeding to violate all compacts, on the ground 
that no contract need be kept with Protestants. This 
solemn lesson is a warning to the people in our country 
who seem determined not to learn the ways of Rome. 

The emperor, Charles, later wished that he had killed 
Luther, instead of permitting him to depart on his pledge 
of safety. Papal promises of this sort are not binding, ac- 
cording to Canon Law, and but for the fear of the people, it 
is safe to conjecture, that Luther would have been no more 
safe under the safe-conduct of Charles, than Huss was under 
that of Sigismund a century before. 

A plan was laid to entrap Luther into a surrender of his 
safe-conduct. It was a bold design on his life, beyond all 
doubt. A priest had appeared directly from the nuncio’s 
house to Luther, when the trap was laid. The friends of 
Luther saved him from it. 

ROMAN COUNCILS ABOVE THE SCRIPTURES. 

Daily conferences were held in which Luther was argued 
with, and threatened in turn. He was immovable. His 


154 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


conviction was like a rock. All the power of Rome, and 
the constant fear of death, could not move him. It was 
finally proposed to him that he submit his writings to a 
council, as he had himself proposed a year before. He 
promptly consented, on the condition that the council should 
decide according to Holy Scripture. This spoiled it. Coun- 
cils in the Roman Church are not subject to the Scriptures. 
Such a precedent would terminate the supreme authority of 
the Roman Church speedily. 

The emperor dismissed Luther, with orders not to disturb 
the peace of the country by preaching on the way. Luther 
hurried home. It was clear that the storm was coming 
nearer. Within a few days the emperor called the remnant 
of the Diet, and announced the decree he had determined 
upon. It set forth that Luther was ‘‘ Satan himself, under 
the garb of a man in a monk’s hood that it was the im- 
perial intention, so soon as the safe-conduct was expired, 
to use effectual means to put a stop to his fury ; all persons 
were commanded, under penalty, not to house, shelter, feed, 
or give drink to him, or in any way to aid or abet him ; all 
were authorized to seize him wherever he be, and return 
him to the emperor ; the faithful were enjoined to seize his 
followers, and confiscate their property. The Romanists 
ran wild with joy. 

A KNIGHT OF WARTBURG. 

Luther was traveling away from his old grandmother’s 
village, where he had spent a day, when he was fallen upon 
by a party of friends, in the disguise of the knights of that 
period, and hurried rapidly into the depths of the Thurin- 
gian forest, to the lonely castle of Wartburg. It was none 
too soon. His safe-conduct was out. The Papists of the 
country were on his trail. At the Wartburg he was dressed 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


155 


as a knight, and went by the name of Knight George. All 
his followers thought he had fallen into the hands of Rome. 
His friends were keeping him until the storm blew past 
The priestly party hunted for him in vain. 

Blessed retreat of Wartburg ! It was providential. Luther 
begins to consider that the Reformation will now best be 
advanced by giving the Bible to his countrymen. There 
was no Bible in the German language. Taking the Greek 
originals, he entered upon this glorious work. Kow shall 
the Reformation live in Germany. It rests on the Bible 
in the vernacular. 

After a confinement of nearly a year at the Wartburg, 
Luther could stand it no longer. He secretly left the old cas- 
tle, and returned to Wittemberg. A storm had broken forth 
in a new quarter. The great Sorbonne university in Paris 
had at last condemned him. Next to the Pope the Sorbonne 
was the greatest power in the Roman Church in the six- 
teenth century. The Sorbonne had fallen under the control 
of the Dominicans, and hence its condemnation. This 
brought the Reformation into fresh peril, and Luther into 
greater danger than ever. We are perplexed at this point, 
at the wonder that Luther was not killed. After a brief 
and secret conclave with the leaders at Wittemberg, Luther 
returned quietly to the Wartburg, where he remained for 
many months more. 

In the midsummer of 1524, a popular insurrection broke 
out in many of the provinces against the priests. Their 
lives were unbearable, and their rule had grown intolerable. 
In the Thurgovian district the bishop had refused to ap- 
point a selection of a priest made by the people. Several 
thousand men liberated a prisoner held in a monastery. 
With inconceivable rapidity the indignation spread through 
a large number of the provinces. The peasantry were in 


156 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


opposition to a continuance of priestly rule and corruption. 
They drew up a great petition, in which they claimed the 
liberty of choosing their own pastors, the abolition of Church 
tithes, and ecclesiastical servitude. They concluded with 
the words : “If we are wrong, let Luther set us right by 
the Scriptures.” Luther plainly told the bishops it was 
their oppression of the poor which had driven the people to 
despair. 


THE ESCAPED NUNS. 

Nine nuns, in one of the convents, had somehow found a 
Bible. They devoted themselves to its study. They be- 
sought their parents for permission to leave. They were 
refused, on the opinion of the ecclesiastics that it would 
not do. They all escaped, and found a protector in Luther. 
Another reason for Rome hating him. 

Another was found when he married. This opened, too 
wide for repair, the last breach. Luther was no longer a 
Roman Catholic. At no point was he any more in harmony 
with the Papal Church. He had sailed straight across the 
impure waters of the Papacy, and had anchored in the deep 
calm of a pure faith, and Rome need make no further prop- 
osition to him. 

In the later years of his life, two other Popes came to the 
Papal throne. These were Urban and Clement. Leo had 
long since put Luther to the flames, if he had not been so 
much engaged in pleasure, or if the popular feeling in Ger- 
many had not been so strongly in favor of him. These two 
things deterred him, and he contented himself with threats 
and excommunications, and left to the future the flnal con- 
flict. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


157 


A DISTURBER OF PEACE AMONG THE NATIONS. 

The new Popes, in turn, tried to get the sentence against 
Luther enforced. They exhausted all the diplomacy of the 
Yatican court, in intrigue and scheme. They tried to em- 
broil kings and princes in the question, hoping that in some 
way Luther would be crushed. To some extent France and 
Spain became the Papal agents to carry out the policy of 
destruction determined upon. But both of these nations 
were too wary to be very open. Pome was a disturber of 
the peace of the nations, through her barbarous desire to 
overthrow a man in Germany, who claimed the right to 
hold and teach opinions contrary to what prevailed on the 
Tiber. To a very grave extent the Papacy is responsible 
for the old feeling of war and hatred which has been, for 
centuries, existing between France and Germany, and at in- 
tervals has broken out into wars of devastation and destruc- 
tion. Pome will be held, by all history, to be the cause of 
more wars than all causes combined, which lie outside of 
her influence. 

DEMANDS THE DEATH OF LUTHER. 

Pope Clement became angered at the delay of the Ger- 
man authorities in dealing with Luther. He sent his spe- 
cial nuncio to order an immediate execution of the finding 
of the Diet of Worms. This meant that the reformer was 
to be killed in some way. The Pope had spoken in final 
judgment. This demand, that the ruling of the emperor at 
the Diet of Worms be now carried out, was as though the 
Pope had said: “Bind that Luther to the stake, and 
burn him to ashes.” It was now no longer a question of 
what Pome would do, but what she could do. It was not. 


158 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


what will the Pope do, but what can the Pope do ? There 
was no query any longer as to the Papal spirit, but only as 
to Papal power. 

, Would Luther be destroyed ? ^^"0. But do not give 
Rome the credit. Pope and council, and bishop and priest, 
and legate and monk, had all done their best. Rome had 
the intent of murder in her heart, as in the century before ; 
but her hand was not quite so strong in the German gov- 
ernment as in the preceding century. The Popes and the 
councils might turn a man over to the secular power to be 
killed, but if the secular power does not proceed to execute 
the order, and Popes and councils have no power to enforce 
their mandates, then the man lives. 

WHY HE IS NOT KILLED. 

This was the situation in the case of Luther. The Pope 
had given his final instructions ; and they were that the 
plan of the emperor, as he gave it to the Diet of Worms, 
was to be carried out forthwith. But the Pope had mis- 
calculated his power in Germany. The people had been 
thinking and growing. The fact is that the nation never 
felt satisfied over the shameful stigma resting on the em- 
pire, on account of the burning of Huss and Jerome of 
Prague. These worthies of the fourteenth century, had been 
ordered killed by a council in session in a German city ; and 
they were burned just without the walls of that same Ger- 
man city ; and their ashes were thrown, with malice in the 
hearts of those who so ordered, in the classic river of Ger- 
many. The world had shuddered at that awful crime, and 
Germany felt keenly the disgrace. Such a thing was not 
likely to be repeated so soon. Besides, the princes of the 


THE ROM AH PAPACY. 


159 


German states were friendly to Luther to a great extent, and 
many of themliis adherents. The powerful Elector Saxony 
had stood between Luther and the emperor, the council and 
the many plots to entrap him. So when the Pope’s legate 
appeared, with the final instructions of the Vatican lord, 
approval was not warm or general. The most the princes 
would agree to was to call a free council, unencumbered by 
Papal directions, and leave the question as to the disposi- 
tion of Luther to it. The Pope could not agree to this. 
He had no power in Germany to force his will, and he had 
to surrender, though he never recalled his instructions for 
the execution of Luther. 

The great reformer spent the remaining fevr years of his 
life in comparative quiet. He kept up his lectures and 
preaching, and his writings, to near the end. His depart- 
ure was peaceful and hopeful ; the declarations of Papal 
writers to the contrary notwithstanding. 

The charge is well sustained ; Rome tried to force Luther 
into her way of thinking. When he refused, she enticed, 
coaxed and pleaded. He still refused, and she tried to 
suppress, then to entrap, then to force, and at last to kill. 

WHY THE POPES HATED HIM. 

In reflecting over this treatment, and the spirit which 
induced it, and the course of Luther, it is seen that Rome 
had at least five reasons for her pursuit of him, and for 
killing him, if she had dared to do so. 

A first reason was, that Luther stood up for a pure faith, 
and a pure religion. Rome justified the soul by works and 
penances, and by gifts of money. Luther made justifica- 
tion to rest in a living and pure faith in Christ. This teach- 


160 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


ing was calculated to lead the mind away from the merits’ 
of the priestly office, and to locate the real issue of salva- 
tion in a direct personal relation of the soul with Christ. 
This would lead the world away from Rome. She had to 
fight Luther on this dangerous truth. Rome was con- 
sistent. 

IF EOME IS COEEECT WHAT SHE HOLDS IS EIGHT TO-DAY* 

Luther controverted the supreme right of Rome to rule 
above the conscience in the Church, and above the state in 
public affairs. In the early part of his career he held to 
the doctrine that the Pope was the representative of Christ 
on earth ; but he was on a road that led away from such un- 
historic and un-Biblical position, and he came to a point 
where he held that the mission of the Church was to preach 
the Gospel, and not to force the conscience and all thought 
into grooves set by Popes, sometimes ignorant and corrupt. 
This same conclusion made him deny the rights of the Pa- 
pacy in purely state affairs. Rome was enjoying her tem- 
poral rule much more than her spiritual. There was more 
money and means for show and display in it. What could 
Rome do, but to seek the overthrow of Luther? If her 
doctrine be true, her ways are justified. Those who claim 
that the ways of Rome in America cannot be as they have 
been in other countries, in the past, are under obligation to 
show reasonable proof that her doctrines will be wholly 
changed. Her doctrines being what they are, she must 
return to persecuting and killing, and she is justified in 
doing so, if her doctrines are true altogether. 

A third reason for Papal persecution of Luther was, that 
he stood for a high, almost ideal, patriotism and national 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


161 


progress. He loved his country, and taught, in sermons, 
lectures and writings, a high type of devotion to native 
land. He united, as not yet had been done, religion and 
patriotism. He set Christian songs to the popular melo- 
dies, and very soon had all the nation singing into their 
hearts the Gosp^ of Christ, and at the same time felt the 
glow of love for their country and their own race growing 
brighter. This was in bitter opposition to the spirit of 
Home. She does not inculcate love of country. Her pro- 
fessions of patriotism are always and everywhere a fraud. 
The countries where she has most control, are those in which 
there is the least to love, and no independent devotion can 
exist. Who cares to live in Ireland, Spain or Italy ? They 
are the lands whose people find so little to hold them, that 
they leave as fast as is possible. 

BIBLE TRANSLATOES ALL CONDEMNED. 

A fourth reason for Home’s fight against Luther, was be- 
cause he gave his people the Bible in their own tongue. It 
was a pure German, in which he translated the Scriptures, 
and the nation took to it fondly and generally. The man 
who leads a whole nation to reading the Bible is cursed of 
Home. Wyclif, Huss, Cranmer, Knox, LaSarre — they have 
all been condemned. Home had to oppose the German re- 
former, because he did what she taught was a dangerous 
thing. If Home is right in her view, that the Bible leads 
men and nations into peril, then is she right in using all 
her immense power to restrain that evil. Is the fault of 
Home one of acts, or of fundamental error of belief, which 
will keep her in turmoil with the nations as long as the Pa- 
pal power is tolerated. Let the Homan Catholic Church 
go on its way in peace and liberty ; but let the nations com- 


162 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


bine to overthrow the Papal throne. This alone will give 
peace to the world. 

A fifth reason why Rome sought the suppression of 
Luther was because he was a man of sublime courage. He 
had courage of thought, courage of his convictions, and 
courage of deed. He knew no fear. He lived for twenty-five 
years in almost daily expectation of death, but allowed it 
to have no restraint on his duty. Such a man the Popes 
could not endure. He was dangerous. Rome produces 
no such men in her fold, that are content to keep in it. 
A brave soul, working for country, and humanity, and God, 
can find no permission to labor in the Church of Rome. 

One of the noblest utterances of all time, was that which 
Luther gave as his last words at Worms. When he closed 
his defense by saying that he could not and would not re- 
tract, for to act against conscience was unsafe and unholy, 
the emperor signified that that ended the matter. Luther 
added with impressive solemnity; Hier steJie ich.,ic7h 
kann nicM auders ; Gott Mlp mir, Amen^ “I cannot 
do aught else. Here I stand. God helj). Amen.’’ 


THE PROTESTANT PATRIOT. 


'‘As long as I’m a Protestant 
I’m bounden to protest! 

Come, every German musicant, 

And fiddle me his best ! 

You’re singing of ‘ the free old Rhine,’ 
But I say, ‘ No,’ good comrades mine, — 
The Rhine could be. 

Greatly more free. 

And that I do protest. 

“And every man in reason grants 
What always was confessed. 

As long as we are Protestants 
We sternly must protest. 

And when they sing ‘ the free old Rhine,* 
Answer them ‘No,’ good comrade mine. 
The Rhine could be. 

Greatly more free. 

And that you shall protest.” 


Does the Roman Church teach 

THAT IT HOLDS THE POWER TO 
GRANT Indulgences ? 

An Indulgence is the remission of the temporal punisn- 
ment due to sins, remitted as to their guilt, by the power 
of the keys, without the sacrament, by the application of 
satisfactions which are contained in the treasury of the 
Church. Dens. 

What is Purgatory? 

I constantly hold that there is a purgatory, and that the 
souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the 
faithful. Pope Pius IV. 


PART V. 


EOME’S TRADE IN INDULGENCES— ITS POLITICAL 
EVILS— CORRUPT MONEY POWER. 

In every nation, Rome’s follies have most contributed to 
Rome’s overthrow. Duping everybody else, she has often 
betrayed her infamous spirit to such an extent, that in dis- 
gust as well as indignation, men have arisen, in the might 
of awakened manhood, and thrown off her rule. The Popes 
hastened the Reformation, by their bigoted rule and miser- 
ly greed. The ambition of the Popes for money had quite 
as much to do with the cloud-burst in Europe, as did the 
cruelty of the councils, and the corruption of the priests. 
All things seemed to work together to show the nations the 
curse they were under, and to provoke them to come out 
from under it. 

THE FIRST GREAT PROTESTANT NATION. 

Germany was the first of the great nations to break en- 
tirely with Rome. England in the fourteenth century re- 
sented the Papal rule, and labored mightily for a reform 

( 166 ) 


166 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


in the Church ; but the England of the fourteenth century 
had no idea of a Church other than the one, at the head of 
which was the Pope of Eome. The England of the four- 
teenth century remained in the Eomish communion ; but 
the Germany of the sixteenth century found herself, by 
the force of her reform movement, driven eutirely out of 
that Church, and going about establishing a great national 
faith, independent of Pope and council in faith and gov- 
ernment. 

The people of all ranks became thoroughly aroused. The 
country was powerfully disturbed, as never before or since. 
Political despotism was a part of Pome’s rule, and her po- 
litical tyrannies became too oppressive to be longer en- 
dured. Then, as we have seen, came the upheaval, which, 
in a single generation, turned Germany into a Protestant 
nation. 

THE MOST GIGANTIC SCHEME FOR MAKING MONEY. 

We have now to consider the most aggravating evil of 
the Pope’s rule in Germany, and that which so terribly 
aroused Luther. Perhaps the Papacy reached the depth 
of its worldly infamy in the sale of indulgences. In all 
the ages there has not been such a gigantic scheme for mak- 
ing money. It was mostly, and at last only, a device to get 
money out of the people, throughout the world, for the 
Pope’s exchequer. Such vast sums of money were gath- 
ered in by this means, and by that of the pilgrimages to 
Eome, that great piles of coin lay about the Vatican, and 
was handled with rakes. 

WHAT AWAKENED THE LION IN LUTHER. 

This was the evil that brought Luther to the front. And 
he was to give a blow, from which the Papacy would never 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


167 


recover. Light was about to break forth ! A thunderbolt 
was to fall ! Europe was to shake ! Nations were to be 
submerged ! The people were to be awakened, and advance 
to a vantage ground of religious liberty, from which they 
were nevermore to be driven by Papal power. 

THE ORIGIH OF INDULGENCES. 

The origin of indulgences dates some four hundred years 
before Luther. The first recorded instance of an act di- 
recting it, was by Alexander II., in the eleventh century. 
At first these indulgences could only be procured at Pome, 
by appearing in person. The custom appears to have had 
its origin in the punishment which the Church inflicted for 
particular sins, and which, when the Popes wanted money, 
was remitted, by payment of a fine. It was certainly a 
rich vein, which Pome thus discovered in the exhaustless 
mine of human duplicity and superstition. 

Let it be known and borne in mind, through this treat- 
ment of this stupendous fraud of Pome, that the only rea- 
son for its existence, and the only one to be discovered in 
history, was that of making money. All other devices had 
been worked for centuries, and a new one was thought nec- 
essary. The Pope wanted money, while the avarice of the 
priests was something surprising. It was a passion — a 
mania, indeed. To keep up their power and splendor, the 
Popes were everlastingly originating new plans to drain the 
countries of Europe of money. Every ecclesiastic had to 
give the Pope the first year’s income. Besides this, they 
had frequent special taxes laid upon them. The most de- 
sirable vacancies were put up at auction, and sold to the 
highest bidder. Free gifts were constantly solicited, and 
extraordinary levies were continuously being made. 


168 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


SONG OF THE POPES. 

The Popes were more concerned for the increase of their 
exchequer, than they were for the moral welfare of the 
world. They begged the people to give money, instead of 
exhorting them to be pious. They resorted to all sorts of 
crime, and all kinds of fraud, for money. The song of the 
Popes in the sixteenth century might have been, as in fact 
was their spirit, that of money. Money, money, money ; 
money from the princes, and money from their purses, give 
us money, oh, you people, or ye have our curses. Money 
was needed to carry on the Papal intrigues in the courts of 
Europe, and to keep up the extravagant pleasures of the 
court at Pome. Money was wanted to rebuild the cathedral 
of St. Peter’ s at Pome. The reconstruction of this cathedral 
had been determined upon by Leo X., the Pontiff of inordi- 
nate ambition and unmatched vileness of character. A mag- 
nificent piece of architecture is that cathedral, but every 
stone was placed with blood money. The understanding 
was that the money from the sale of indulgences was to go 
for that purpose, but little of it so went. The Popes of 
the sixteenth century were supporting the most extrava- 
gant, luxurious and profligate court in Europe, and the 
money had to come. 

A general sale of indulgences was determined upon for 
all classes, and to be operated in all countries. It was skill- 
fully studied out and so presented as to trap the people. 
They were to be taught to believe that they could secure 
certain benefits, blessings and pardons, by the payment of 
certain sums of money. The more money, the greater ben- 
efits and blessings. So religion was made a matter of little 
good except for the rich. It was a great resource the Popes 
were to work. And we shall see what financiers they prove 
to be. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


169 


An edict of Clement YII. declared the new doctrine an 
article of faith. The most holy teachings of the Scriptures 
were made to fit into this. Christ had shed more blood 
than was really necessary. This additional, or surplus 
blood, the priests had at their disposal, and would dispose 
of, for money, to give pardon to those who would buy. 

PAGAN ORIGIN OF PURGATORY. 

But this was only available for sins committed, after con- 
necting with the Church. There was no opportunity on 
earth to expiate sins committed prior thereto; and for 
those committed even after joining the Church, and not ab- 
solved by the priests. Hence some provision had to be de- 
vised for this to be done after this life. The ancient Pa- 
gans had a notion that there was a purifying fire, in which 
souls were to be purified. Some of the early priests of the 
Church held to the same thing. It could be made a great 
source for gain in the Roman Church. So the Pope issued 
his bull, m2i^uig purgatory a doctrine of the Church. He 
declared that men expiated in this place those sins not ex- 
piated in this life, and that indulgences could be purchased, 
freeing them from the sins that held them in bondage in 
purgatory. It is remarked how well the doctrine of purga- 
tory, and that of the indulgences, suited each other. It was 
a double-header. It did great credit to a court that was af- 
ter money, and cared nothing for the present or future wel- 
fare of the souls of its subjects. Terror was introduced, as 
an element to help coerce money from the people, for the 
release of their dead friends. In many churches, and along 
the country roads, rude pictures were put up, depicting 
the dead engulfed in fiames of fire, and in an attitude of 
pleading, invoking help for their deliverance. These gross 


170 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Pagan pictures are yet seen in some Roman Catholic 
countries. 

The living son could liberate his dead mother, the living 
husband his dead wife, the father his small babe, from these 
purgatorial flames, if he would pay a certain sum. In those 
dark centuries, when the unknown world made such a su- 
perstitious impression, upon the ignorant mind, what must 
have been the terror worked upon the poor, deluded peo- 
ple, by such teaching, such pictures, such a law of the 
Church ? 


AN OLD BOOK ON INDULGENCES. 

The enormities of this Papal fraud are well vouchsafed 
by wholly Roman Catholic authority. In an old book of 
directions, issued for the use of the collectors of indul- 
gences, it is stated, that on the payment of two reals apiece 
the souls, for which payment was made, would be freed 
from the pains of purgatory, and would go into Heaven, 
and would forever pray for him who had done so great a 
good. 

What an inducement this held out for an ignorant man. 
He could liberate both of his parents from purgatory for 
about twenty cents ; then his parents would continually 
pray for his good. The same money would enable him to 
help the dead, and the same dead to help him. 

The original intent of the indulgences was to remove the 
punishment due for a sin, but came in the sixteenth cen- 
tury to remove the sin itself. And as a fact, the ignorant 
purchaser of an indulgence looked upon it as a soul-in- 
surance, releasing him from further responsibility to God, 
for the space of one year. Belief in the efficacy of indul- 
gences was wide-spread in the times we are considering. The 
people held what they were instructed in. They were 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


171 


taught that the treasures of Christ’s merits were committed 
to the Popes, bishops, and the Dominican friars. And 
these merits were given them to sell. That whoever would 
buy, should, by what they bought, be absolved from sins 
and crimes, committed, or about to be committed, and they 
could as well deliver their friends from the fires of purgatory. 

Regular receipts were given, showing what the money 
was paid to the vender of indulgences for. The usual form 

ran : ‘‘ Because you. have given the said two reals for 

the soul of and have received this bull, the said graces 

and plenary indulgence are granted to the soul, for which 
you have given this sum.” 

If an indulgence was bought once, it gave the holder a 
special benefit on his death bed, not enjoyed by others 
when they come to die. 

FOEM OF INDULGENCE CEETIFICATE. 

If a man bought a plenary indulgence, it entitled him, at 
death, to receive, from his priest, an absolution, lifting the 
punishment due him in purgatory, and entitled him to im- 
mediate entrance into Heaven, without preliminary proba- 
tion in purgatory. The formula of absolution to be given 
at death, and based on an indulgence already had, ran : 

“And I absolve thee from all thy sins, crimes and ex- 
cesses, which thou hast now confessed to me, and those 
which thou wouldst have confessed hadst thou remembered 
them, even though they are such as are reserved to the Holy 
Roman See. I grant thee plenary indulgence and complete 
remission of them all, and of the punishment which for 
them thou wast obliged to suffer in the life to come.” 

As the trade in indulgences was conducted in Germany, 
in the time of Luther, there was no benefit of the Gospel, 
which was not purchasable. The ecclesiastic who carried 


172 


THE R03IAN PAPACY. 


them about with him, declared that he had the authority 
of Christ, of the apostles Peter and Paul, and the Pope. 
Then he proceeded to sell whatever was wanted, and needed. 
This grant of absolution specified that the holder was set 
free of one, or more, or all, of the following punishments 
and sins and crimes: First, he was absolved from all eccle- 
siastical censures, then from all sins, transgressions and ex- 
cesses, how enormous soever they may be ; all punishment 
awaiting him in purgatory on account of his sins ; he was 
restored to the sacraments of the Church, unity of the faith- 
ful, and to that innocence and purity he possessed at bap- 
tism ; when he died the gates of punishment were to be 
closed, and the gates of the paradise of delight were to be 
opened ; and if he did not die at that time, it was stipulated 
that the agreement should remain in full force when he did 
die. 


SCALE OF PRICES FROM AN OLD BOOK. 

An authorized scale of prices was borne about, which 
stipulated the price to be paid for indulgences, covering 
special sins. This seems to have been capable of change, 
according to the country, or the greed of the agents. An 
old tax book of the sacred Roman Chauncery, designed for 
use in Spain, gives exact sums to be charged for the remis- 


sion of the following sins : 

For simony 10s. 6d. 

For sacrilege 10s. 6d. 

For taking false oath in a criminal case - - 9s 

For robbing - 12s. 

For burning a house 12s. 3d. 

For murdering a layman - - - - _ . 73 . 6d, 

For murdering a priest 10s. 6d. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


173 


In Germany Tetzel charged a special price for particular 
sins. He sold indulgences lifting the sin from 


Polygamy, for - 
Perjury, for - - 
Murder, for - - 
Witchcraft, for - 


$6. 

$9. 

$ 8 . 

$ 2 . 


He gave an ordinary indulgence to kings, queens and bish- 
ops for $25. In Switzerland, Samson sold a pardon for 
murdering one’s father or mother for $1.00. In Holland 
this sin and crime were forgiven for $1.20. 


DESCKIPTION OF IlSTDULGENCE SALE. 


The distinguished historian. Merle D’Aubigne, in his 
celebrated treatise on the Reformation, gives us this strik- 
ing description of the dealers of indulgences, as they ap- 
proached a town : 

The dealers passed through the country in a gay carriage, 
escorted by three horsemen, in great state, and spending 
freely. One might have thought it some dignitary on a 
royal progress, with his attendants and officers, and not a 
common dealer, or a begging monk. When the procession 
approached a town, a messenger waited on the magistrate : 
“The grace of God, and the holy father, is at your gates!” 
said the envoy. Instantly every thing was in motion in the 
place. The clergy, the priests, the nuns, the council, the 
school masters, the trades, with their flags, — men and wom- 
en, young and old, went forth to meet the merchants, with 
lighted tapers in their hands, advancing to the sound of 
music, and of all the bells of the place ; “so that,” says an 
historian, “they could not have given a grander welcome 
to God himself.” ‘ ‘ Salutations being exchanged, the whole 
procession moved toward the church. The Pontiff’s bull of 
grace was borne in front, on a velvet cushion, or on" cloth of 


174 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


gold. The chief vender of indulgences followed, support- 
ing a large red wooden cross ; and the whole procession 
moved in this manner, amidst singing, prayers, and the 
smoke of incense. The sound of organs, and a concert of 
instruments, received the monkish dealer and his attendants 
into the church. The cross he bore with him was erected 
in front of the altar ; on it was hung the Pope’s arms, and, 
as long as it remained there, the clergy of the place, the 
penitentiaries, and the sub-commissioners, with white wands 
in their hands, came every day after vespers, or before the 
salutation, to do homage to it.” This great bustle excited 
a lively sensation in the quiet towns of Germany. 

CAPTUKING A SHIP LOAD OF INDULGENCES. 

'No government in the world, in the sixteenth century, 
had such an immense revenue, as that brought into the Pa- 
pal banks by the sale of indulgences. At one time the 
Pope received $100,000 a year from Spain. Leo X. agreed 
for awhile to help out the crown of Spain, and be content 
with $25,000 a year from that country. From the little 
kingdom of Venice he had $500,000 every three years. In 
1575 the Spanish crown received $240,000 as their part of 
the revenue from the sale of indulgences. Gregory XIII. 
extended the sale to the people of Mexico and of India, 
from which countries he received immense sums to swell 
the Papal treasury. In 1709 the English privateers, in their 
lawless excursions on the seas, ran down and captured a 
ship, which proved to be loaded with bulls for indulgences. 
The cargo consisted of 500 bales, containing sixteen reams 
to the bale. As prices were then prevailing, this cargo of 
blanks, when disposed of, would have brought the Roman 
Church at least two million dollars. 


THE BOM AN PAPACY. 


175 


MISSION OF THE ROMAN CHURCH IN THIS LAND. 

As we read these astounding disclosures, bearing upon 
the greed of the Roman See, we are constrained to ask, if 
the Popes were engaged in saving souls, or in making 
money, and aggrandizing power ? This suggests another 
question. Is the Roman Catholic Church in this land, 
using its energies in the spiritual mission of the Church, or 
in building up a great political and money power ? His- 
tory teaches most plainly, that the Roman Church has la- 
bored more earnestly to bring the world to the feet of the 
Pope, than to bring it to the foot of the cross. A study of 
the drift of the Church in our land, for the last twenty 
years, shows abundant proof of this. Zeal and greed are 
its two greatest energies, rather than zeal and piety. 

Pope Leo X. took hold of the barter in indulgences with 
great spirit. It opened a rare chance for revenue, and it 
was not in the mind of any Pope to overlook such an op- 
portunity. Leo had a mighty scheme in his plan for the 
extension of personal and Papal power. He would push 
the trade in indulgences in all the world, and accumulate 
vast fortunes to carry on the designs of the Papacy, and 
pay the enormous expenses required for the pleasures of 
the Papal court. Leo dispatched the indulgences to Ger- 
many, and designated Archbishop Albert commissioner to 
direct the sale. Albert was himself to have a goodly share 
of the money gathered in by the sale. He was fired with a 
desire to make the sale larger than any other country. He 
appointed the corrupt Dominican friar, Tetzel, his chief 
agent, and put him in the field. His work was that of the 
mountebank, and his morals were those of one. He had 
been convicted of crimes and vices of the gravest character. 
The Emperor Maximilian had ordered that he be put in a 
sack and thrown into the river. The Elector of Saxony 


176 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


alone saved him. He was coarse, immoral, and without 
any conscience. There was not in all the German monas- 
teries a lower character. He was just the man to speedily 
bring the traffic into poor favor, and hasten the Refor- 
mation. 


STUPENDOUS DEMAGOGUERY. 

Tetzel drove about the country in a carriage and three 
horses, with out-riders and heralds. He invented all pos- 
sible devices, schemes and stories to defraud the people out 
of their money. He boldly and loudly declaimed, that so 
soon as they gave their money they were certain of salva- 
tion and the liberation of souls from purgatory. Here are 
some of the paragraphs taken from some of these vile ha- 
rangues. 

‘‘Indulgences are the most precious and sublime of God’s 
gifts. 

‘ ‘ I would not exchange my privileges for those of St. 
Peter in heaven, for I saved more souls by my indulgences 
than he by his sermons. 

“Indulgences save not only the living, they save also 
the dead. 

“Ye priests, ye nobles, ye tradesmen, ye wives, ye maid- 
ens, and ye young men, hearken to your departed parents 
and friends, who cry to you from the bottomless abyss : 
‘We are enduring horrible torment ! a small alms would 
deliver us; you can give it, and ‘you will not!’” The 
dreadful effect of such a declamation on an ignorant and 
deluded congregation was what the mountebank monk was 
after. It can be imagined. “ Dull and heedless men, with 
ten groschen you can deliver your father from purgatory.^ 
and you are so ungrateful you will not rescue him. In the 
day of judgment my conscience will be clear ; but you will 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


177 


be punished the more severely for neglecting so great a sal- 
vation. Our Lord God no longer deals with us as God. He 
has given all power to the Pope. 

“The very moment that the money clinks against the 
bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purgatory, and 
flies to heaven.” 

Pef erring to the doctrine that the souls of Peter and Paul 
were interred in the churches called by their names in Pome,, 
he exclaimed : ‘ ‘ Those sacred bodies, owing to the present 
condition of the buildings, are now, alas ! continually trod- 
den, flooded, polluted, dishonored, and rotting in rain and 
hail. Ah ! shall those holy ashes be suffered to remain de« 
graded in the mire ? 

“Draw near, and I will give you letters, duly sealed, by" 
which even the sins you shall hereafter desire to commit 
shall be all forgiven you. 

“Even repentance is not indispensable.” 

He closed the harangue with the loud cry : “ Bring your 
money! Bring money! Bring money!” Then he would 
spring from the pulpit, run to the chest and throw in a 
piece of money, in sight of all the people, and so as to make 
a loud sound. In all the ages is there to be found a gigantic 
scheme so full of hypocrisy, and so loaded with bravado % 
Is this the religion of the Roman Catholic Church ? Yet 
high authority has the boldness to say there has been no 
change, in spirit, in the Church from what it was in the 
sixteenth century. No such a stupendous piece of dema- 
goguery has ever played its frauds upon the nations, as that 
organized and operated by the Papacy ! 

Then came the. counting of the money, secured by this 
vast speculation in human sins, and through the capitaliza^ 
tion of human credulity. The chest had three keys ; one 
kept by Tetzel, one by the banking house at Augsburg, 


178 


THE nOMAH PAPACY. 


and one was placed in the keeping of the civil authority. It 
was opened in the presence of a public notary, and the pile 
of money carefully counted, and entry made in books kept 
for that purpose. In spite of these precautions it appears 
that those in charge squandered large sums of the indul- 
gence money. 

DISREPUTABLE LIVES OF PAPAL AGENTS. 

When a town was fully worked, and the money was 
counted, and entered in the books, the dealers gave them- 
selves to amusement and revelry. They were found in low 
taverns and disreputable places. Sarpi, a Roman Catholic 
authority in history, says: ‘‘They led an irregular life; 
they spent in taverns, gaming houses, and houses of ill- 
fame, what the people had scraped together from their 
poverty.” And Schrock declares they would sometimes, 
when they were in the taverns, stake the salvation of souls 
on dice. 

The abominations of Tetzel were of the meanest and lowest 
type. At Magdeburg he refused to sell an indulgence to a 
rich woman, except she pay him one hundred florins. She 
consulted her confessor, a righteous man. He answered that 
God forgives freely, and does not sell his pardon for money. 
When Tetzel heard of this he declared that “ such an ad- 
viser deserved to be burnt alive.” 

tetzel’ S GRAVEYARD TALE. 

The utterly bad soul of Tetzel is shown by his course at 
Zwickau. The people had turned out en masse to procure 
indulgences for themselves and their dead friends. He was 
about to quit the town, with a large sum, which was counted 


THE BOMAN PAPACY. 


179 


and recorded on the books. In the evening, the chaplains, 
a low and beastly set, called npon him to give them a fare- 
well feast. He would do it, but too late ; the money had 
been counted and sealed up. The amount was in the books. 
A plan was agreed ux)on. In the morning the great bell 
tolled. They knew that something unusual was to be up, 
and hocked to the Church. Tetzel mounted the pulpit and 
exclaimed : “I had intended to leave this morning, but last 
night I was awakened by groans. I listened ; they pro- 
ceeded from the cemetery. Alas ! it was a poor soul that 
called me, and entreated to be delivered from the torment 
that consumed it. I therefore have tarried one day longer, 
that I might move Christian hearts to compassion for this 
unhappy soul. Myself will be the first to contribute ; but 
he who will not follow my example will be worthy of all 
condemnation.” The money came quickly. And that 
night Tetzel and the chaplains sat down to a merry feast, 
paid for by this very money given to release the poor soul 
that cried from the graveyard. 

In the town of Hagenau a woman had purchased an in- 
dulgence, which certified that upon her death her soul should 
go directly to heaven. She died shortly afterwards. Her 
husband did not have a mass said for the good of her soul 
in purgatory. The priest of the place charged that he was 
guilty of contempt of religion, and had him dragged before 
the j udge of the town for punishment. The husband handed 
to the judge the indulgence paper, which declared that her 
soul would go, in the moment of death, not into purgatory,^ 
but direct into heaven. “If after that,” he said, “any 
mass is necessary, my wife has been cheated by our Holy 
Father the Pope ; but if she has not been cheated, then the 
priest has been deceiving me.” By such ridiculous predic- 
aments the people saw through the fraud the Popes were 


180 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


practicing upon them. From such proofs as these the ugly 
charge is sustained that the infidelity, which swept over 
Europe two hundred years later, was largely a necessary 
result of Papal rule and teaching. 

THE TEAP TETZEL FELL INTO. 

That many saw through the deep deception that was 
being practiced upon the people by the direction of the 
Pope, is shown by a vast collection of incidents, which are 
collated in the chronicles of the times. Such an incident is 
narrated in the Chronicles of Albinus Meissn, and is re- 
ported in the works of D’ Aubigne. A man who had become 
indignant and disgusted wuth the impostures of Tetzel, 
went to him and asked if he were empowered to sell indul- 
gences pardoning sins of intention, that is, those which a 
person intended to commit. ‘‘Assuredly,” replied Tetzel, 
“I have full power from the Pope to do so.” The man 
told him that he was anxious to take a slight revenge on 
one of his enemies, without doing him any bodily injury. 
“ I will give you ten crowns if you will give me an indul- 
gence that shall bear me harmless.” Tetzel thought he 
should have more money for such a valuable permit, and it 
was agreed that it should be issued for twenty crowns. The 
man paid his money, and took his written permission, au- 
thorized by the Pope of Pome, to do injury to his fellow 
man. In a short while Tetzel set out to leave the place. 
In the deep woods, between Juterboch and Treblin, this 
man, with the permit to commit a crime in his pocket, with 
his attendants fell upon Tetzel and his servants. They 
gave the iniquitous monk a sound beating, and carried off 
the full chest of indulgence money the party had with them. 
Tetzel made a fuss that was heard over Germany about the 
indignity that was dealt out to him, a commissioner of the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


181 


holy father, the Pope. And the man who had performed 
this interesting deed, came forward, and showed the letter 
he had, and signed by Tetzel, and authorized by the Pope, 
exempting him beforehand from all guilt and responsibility. 
And Duke George, in whose province the act had been per- 
formed, ordered that the man should be acquitted. 

IF FOR MOXEY, WHY XOT FOR CHARITY ? 

The people were greatly concerned to know why, if the 
Pope could take souls out of misery and perdition, after 
they had left this world, for a certain sum of money, he 
could not do the same thing for sweet charity’s sake ? This 
line of reasoning led them to impugn the power of the keys, 
as it was called, which was held by the Popes. Since the 
Pope could free so many souls from purgatory for the 
money that was handed to him, why does he not deliver 
all those souls at once by a holy charity, and on account of 
the great misery of those souls % A dealer at Schneeberg 
was accosted by a miner, who asked if they were to really 
believe that the Pope has authority, on a penny being paid 
him, to redeem a soul fvom purgatory. The dealer declared 
that it was so. ‘‘Ah!” replied the miner, “what a cruel 
man the Pope must be, thus to leave a poor soul to suffer 
so long in the flames for a wretched penny !” 

INDULGENCE CERTIFICATES USED AS MONEY. 

It was the custom of the dealers in these letters of pardon 
to pay the inn-keepers, their drivers and those at whose 
houses they would take a meal, with these same indul- 
gences. While in their dissipation, and at the houses of 
immorality, they would use the money taken in payment 
for sins pardoned. Well might all Germany have cried out 


182 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


that the sale of indulgences was the abomination of abomi- 
nations ! It was a shameful imposture, a degradation of all 
religious sentiments, a crusade against common morality 
carried on in the name of the most high merits of Christ ! 

And what is to be said of the Popes who carried on this 
money traffic in salvation ? They were as void of religion 
as their henchmen. They were mostly given to every device 
to make money, and gave very little attention to the moral 
advancement of the world. Without any concern for their 
own souls, they could have none for their subjects. They 
were devoid of religious principle, and had no reputation 
for any religious character. They issued no bulls against 
the immoralities of their lower clergy, because they had no 
example to set themselves. Their own court at Rome 
rivaled that of any in Europe for general dissoluteness, and 
immoral excesses. 

These great outrages on the people in Germany would 
have been prevented to a greater extent by the rulers, but 
for the power of the Church over the state. Rome first 
gains the power and then corrupts the people. In Germany 
a large number of the prelates, bishops and archbishops had 
been made sovereign princes by Charles the Great, in the 
hope that this favor to the high persons in the Church 
would win them over to the interests of the country. Not 
so. These ecclesiastical princes were always ready to obey 
the call of the Pope, in opposition to the emperor. The 
archbishops of Cologne, Mayense, Treves, Salzhug, the 
bishops of Wurzhug, Eichstadt, Munster, Paderborn and 
Bamburg, the abbots of Fulda, Berchtesgaden, were, in this 
way, holders of independent sovereignties, and looked to 
the Pope for their authority and superior head, rather than 
to the emperor. And such is Canon Law. It will be well 
if our country take warning from Germany’ s blunder. There 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


183 


is no compromise with the Roman Church. With her it is 
not only rule, or ruin ; but it is rule, and ruin ! 

The extremities of greed, shown by Tetzel, did more than 
all else to unveil this fraud of the Popes. The people saw 
that the principal thing was to get money, and get as much 
as possible, and get it all the time. The sorrows, sufferings, 
doubts and oppressions of the people were met with utter 
indifference. As they began to see the shameful fraud 
that was being practiced upon them, they lost their respect, 
and then their confidence. Then all sorts of plans were laid 
to make the Papal agents expose their heartless spirit of 
gain. Tetzel spent two months in the town of Annaberg 
and took in a vast sum of money. In voice of loud ap- 
peal, he declared to the crowd, that the only means of sal- 
vation that they had within their power, was to purchase it 
from the Roman Pontiff. 

When he was ready to quit the place he made one more 
supreme effort to secure yet more money. With threaten- 
ing voice he cried out : “I shall soon take down that cross, 
and close the gate of heaven, and put out that sun of grace 
which shines before your eyes. ’ ’ In closing appeal he broke 
forth : ‘ ‘ Inhabitants of Annaberg ! bring forth your money ; 
contribute liberally in aid of indulgences, and all your mines 
and mountains shall be filled with pure silver.’’ 

Still he lingered. At Easter he announced that he would 
distribute the indulgences to the poor, gratuitously, for the 
love of God. A poor young man, Myconius by name, hap- 
pened to be present. He applied to the Tetzel commission- 
ers, saying that he was in need of a free pardon. They 
replied to him that only those who stretched “forth a help- 
ing hand to the Church, that is, gave money, could share in 
the merits of Christ.” “Give at least a they said. 

“I cannot,” he replied to them. “Only six denier 




184 the ROMAN PAPACY. 

they proposed. I have not even so much,” he answered. 
As he left he remarked, that what he wanted was what they 
had promised, “a free pardon, — and for the love of God. 
You will have to account to God for having, for the sake of 
six denier s.^ missed the salvation of a soul.” The populace 
saw through this, and the trade was at an end in Annaberg. 

The way in which the sale was introduced in Germany 
was in its whole arrangement a speculation, which in shame- 
ful manlier involved the Pope. The manner of its introduc- 
tion confirms all the other testimony about the corruption 
of the Papal court. Any court of justice would now put 
him, and his German archbishop, in prison, for such high 
attempts to get money under false pretenses. In this is 
shown the purely worldly spirit which had taken hold of 
the Papacy, and dominated the Roman Church. 

It came about in this way. In all the countries around, 
prodigious sums of money had been collected by the barter 
in sins. A German archbishop saw a rare chance to make 
a great sum, and at the same time put himself on a good 
basis with the Pope. This was Albert, who at twenty- four 
had been made archbishop of Mentz and of Magdeburg. At 
the same time he was made the elector of these same kins:- 
doms, so that he was both ecclesiastical and civil ruler. He 
was frivolous, profane and licentious. His court was one 
of the most gorgeous and extravagant in the empire. He 
took copy of the court of his Church at Rome, and, on a 
smaller scale, rivaled it. To carry on such a court he 
wanted money, and a great deal of it. In addition to his 
expensive rule, he had to pay for his^aZZmm, which was a 
costly affair. This was an ornament made of white wool, 
decorated with black crosses, and blessed by the Pope, and 
bestowed by him on the archbishops, on their appointment 
to office, and as a sign of their jurisdiction and authority. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


185 


It cost from twenty-six to thirty thousand florins. The 
Pope wanted his money for this. 

Albert formed the plan* of making some money in the 
same way the Pope did. He proposed to the Pope to take 
a “contract for the sins of G-ermany,” as it was termed. 
The Popes had been in the habit in this way to farm out 
the sale of the indulgences in the several countries of 
Europe. Leo accepted the proposal of Albert and stipu- 
lated, as a condition of what he thought favorable terms, 
that the pallium was to be paid for at once. But he was 
to make money out of the indulgences to make payment. 
Now, to meet the Pope’s condition, he had to borrow anew. 
His debts were heavy. He had but one way to secure the 
parties from whom he should procure the money. He would 
mortgage the sins of the people, which now had a certain 
money value attaching to them. The banking house of the 
Puggers made the loan, accepted as security this bond made 
to represent the money, which the people would pay to have 
their sins taken away. It was in this way that the Puggers 
were made cashiers for the sale of the indulgences in Ger- 
many. As soon as possible the market was opened up in 
one town after another, until the whole country was visited, 
except Saxony, where the elector put every obstacle in the 
way. 

If this whole procedure indicates anything, so much as 
it does a great money making scheme, it is hard to tell 
where that other thing appears. The Popes sold every 
thing. Home was a great distributing point for Papal 
goods. To forgive a sin cost from a few pence up to twelve 
pounds ; to get permission to commit a crime would cost 
considerable more, but still was a mere matter of money. 
An archbishop’s or insignia of office, cost from 

twenty-six to thirty thousand florins ; while a cardinal’s hat 


186 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


cost thirty thousand florins also. And thus everything 
was disposed of, and is yet, for money. 

Eoman Catholic authorities have no answer to this, which 
they can support with evidence. Their papers, documents 
and books have been found, and these produce a terrible 
showing against them. Their councils have acted upon 
these schemes of the Popes to make money, and the cardi- 
nals have considered them. A powerful party defended 
the indulgences in the council of Trent, though the infamous 
evils of the Tetzel campaign were before them for their en- 
lightenment of the low traffic. 

Truly in this sixteenth century the love of money was the 
root of all evil in the Papal Church. The Popes loved 
money, because by it they could purchase all the pleasures, 
dissipations and luxuries which their wicked hearts craved ; 
and with money, if they could only get enough of it, they 
could procure all the power and glory, which the world had 
to give. By money they could make that show which the 
world would be held by, because dazzled with. The cardi- 
nals wanted money, because with it they could live in show 
and ease, and pave their way to the Papal throne. When 
the throne of Pome became vacant, there were those on the 
bench of cardinals, who bribed other members to vote for 
them. The cardinal with the most money got the Pope’s 
crown. The bishops and archbishops wanted money, be- 
cause they, too, kept up the same grade of show and luxury 
as the Popes and cardinals, only on a smaller scale. The ab- 
bots and priests wanted money, because they lived in indo- 
lence and debauchery, and on the rich viands of the market. 
The greed of the priest was no less than that of the Pope ; 
in his sphere he spent quite as much as did the Pope. 

Thus was the campaign for money the waste of the na- 
tions in this century in Europe. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


187 


The traffic in indulgences fostered a regular gaming spirit 
in the Papacy. Many of the Popes hesitated before no chance 
to make money. 'No set of gamblers ever showed an utter 
lack of principle and honor, in practicing their schemes, 
than have many of the Popes. This greed on the part 
of the Popes led to a like spirit in the lower orders. The 
most exorbitant prices on the indulgences were fixed by 
the local agents, and the Popes gave no objection. Preachers 
in the pulpits labored hard to frighten the people into buy- 
ing the indulgences. They got a commission on what they 
sold. They went to the extreme of measures, and resorted 
to any argument to drive a sale. 

In some of the countries, the office of treasurer of the fund 
was out on bids. These bids were for the whole country, 
or a particular district. The highest bids were taken, and 
these again were let out at a sort of auction. They would 
bid against one another, and so run up a big price. The 
priest had to announce this in the Church, whenever the 
indulgences were for sale. If he neglected it he took the 
risk of excommunication. Every power in the church had 
to be brought into use, by order or assent of the Popes, to 
force money from the people. If this spirit be taken as a 
guide for some reflections on this same Papal society in the 
world at the present time, it may lay before our reason a 
scheme equally universal and full of greed, if less vicious, 
to extort money from every class. A great many things in 
our country are not allowable for Roman Catholics, ac- 
cording to their Church law, which are in perfect accord 
with the laws of the land ; but all of these are attainable by 
paying certain stipulated sums to the priest or bishop. How 
a sin can be made a virtue, by paying fifty dollars to effect 
the change, is beyond the reason of any but a high official 
in the Roman Church. 


188 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Any order of society, religious as well as commercial, 
which, will resort to any and all ways to make money, will 
make any and all sorts of use of that money to attain its 
ends. If corrupt in gaining a money power, it will be 
equally corrupt in exercising that money power. If the 
Roman Church is in the habit of making use of fraud and 
crime to gain money, then will it devote itself to fraud and 
crime to overcome laws, constitutions and institutions not 
to the liking of the Popes. 

The hardships to which the sale of indulgences exposed 
the poor are indescribable. They were often induced to 
purchase on credit. When the term of credit had expired, 
and they found they were unable to pay, they were shame- 
fully treated for an evil entirely beyond their making. An 
interdict was placed on the entire parish. Any article, 
worth double the amount of the debt, could be taken and 
sold at public auction. Many lost the little they had pos- 
sessed by restrictions on their poverty. Personal effects 
and household goods were taken away by the Church 
agents. 

No class of people have been duped by the Roman 
Church like the poor. They have been studiously kept in 
ignorance and superstition, in order that they the more 
readily submit to this plunder on their little earnings. 
There are two enemies of the poor Roman Catholics in this 
country of unremitting injury, and yet they do not seem to 
think them so. One is the saloon, and the other is the 
priest, which is to be taken here as the representative of 
the whole Catholic hierarchy. This ecclesiastical draining 
of the poor often reduces them to beggars and subjects of 
charity. Then their own priests and bishops turn from 
them, and thrust them out to starve, or be cared for by 
their more charitable Protestant neighbors. Perhaps fifty 


THE BOMAN PAPACY. 


189 


per cent, of tlie beggars at our doors are those who have 
given almost daily to the Roman Church. Roman Catho- 
lics constitute not over one out of ten of the population 
with us, and they furnish one-half of the unfortunate who 
apply to our doors or institutions for help, food and 
shelter. 

Protestant churches and pastors testify that a large num- 
ber of those who ask food and bed of them are Romanists. 
And when they are inquired of as to their solicitations 
from their priests, they plainly tell that their priests do 
not help them. In a large city on our coast a great con- 
flagration deprived, in a few hours, a couple hundred fam- 
ilies of shelter and household effects. It was less than two 
hours that a Protestant church was opened, and, with beds 
on the floor and meals being cooked, the poor wanderers 
were invited in. Many of them remained several days; 
dozens were aided to pay rent and purchase stove and bed- 
ding for a new home, by this same church. Most of these 
were Catholics. In the same section was a Roman Catholic 
Church, to which these people belonged. The priest of that 
church said he would not open his church if the whole 
town was burning. A Catholic church was too sacred for 
such use. 

In a large city in our southwest is a great Roman Cath- 
olic institution of the Sacred Heart Catholic Sisters. This 
structure was built by begging, as are all their institutions. 
These sisters had told many a beautiful story about how 
they were relieving the poor and those in distress. Some 
of the Irish Catholic poor, who were in the last hours of a 
distressingly hard winter, and who had no money for 
either meals or shelter, thought they would try the charity 
of the very institution to which they had often given 
money. Fourteen of them appeared at the door and asked 


190 


THE BOMAH PAPACY. 


for a cup of coffee. They were all taken to the police 
court the next morning, upon the complaint of the sisters. 

In one of our large inland cities one of the best known 
charity workers is connected with three of the principal 
charity institutions. Two of them are entirely non-sec- 
tarian. They receive their aid wholly, however, from 
Protestants. Nearly one-half of those who apply for 
aid, and those in most distress, as a rule, are Ro- 
man Catholics. So it appears that the Roman Church, 
by its unjust extortion on its poor, becomes a direct 
means of poverty to its own members, then refuses 
to render them aid when they become wholly depend- 
ent upon charity ; and still worse, will not contribute 
any aid to wholly non-sectarian institutions, to which 
Roman Catholics send ten times as many inmates as 
they should, on the basis of their per cent, of the popula- 
tion. In this same city a man left one million dollars, the 
income of which was to be devoted to the Roman Catholic 
poor of the city. No one has been able to tell where that 
sum is used for the purpose directed in the will of the 
donor. Here is an instance, and it has counterpart in all 
our cities, which indicates a wrong which must be righted. 
The evils it will hatch for us in the near future, if left 
alone, will be past correction. 

This is a natural digression, leading off from the consid- 
eration of the traffic in indulgences; for by the heavy 
drafts the Church made on her poor in the trade of the in- 
dulgences, and a score of other schemes, and by her failure 
to instruct the members in the ways of domestic economy, 
has largely come the distress, in which is found most of the 
Catholic populations of the world. Then it is to be borne 
in mind that all this is a direct injury to the nation. Men 
of public spirit, and those who have the public weal on their 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


191 


hearts, would do a service to their country to seek some 
remedy, and encourage the country to apply it. 

The sale of indulgences did not terminate in Germany, or 
in the sixteenth century. It spread over the world, and 
came down the centuries. Benedict XIY. in 1743 granted 
the Knights of Malta a license to sell indulgences at a price 
to be fixed by themselves. The Pope was to fall into pos- 
session of a large proportion of the sale money ; and the 
Knights were to retain the balance, and they were to run 
the scale of rates up as they saw fit. Their purpose was to 
accumulate money, not release the people from their sins. 
It is but natural to suppose that the practice was altogether 
bad and hurtful to morals. 

In 1778, Pius YI. granted a license to Ferdinand lY., of 
^Naples, who depended upon this means to increase his rev- 
enue. Here and there an instance is found of Papal grants, 
authorizing the trade of the indulgences to be prosecuted 
in some country. It is quite evident that the sale has 
gone on from the sixteenth century to the present, under 
the direction and license of the successive Popes. 

STILL ETJNNING AS A MONEY SCHEME. 

Pope Pius IX. issued his grant authorizing the trade in 
Indulgences to be carried on in Spain. This was in 1851. 
The Pope was to receive a certain share of the money ; and 
the balance was to go to the bishops. The fund of the 
bishops was to be used for pious uses. In 1859 it was 
ordered that the part falling to the bishops was to be ex- 
pended on the service. In 1859 the amount of the indul- 
gence money in Spain reached three million pesetas. And, 
while fAere. is no reliable statement at hand of direct 
amounts, it is esfimated that the annual sum now received 


192 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


in Spain from the indulgences is fully three million and a 
half of pesetas, or over a million dollars and a half. 

A MOUNTEBAI^-K FINANCIEEING. 

This mountebank financiering in the Roman Church has 
had great force in binding upon that • Church those evils 
which are to be deplored on the common grounds of moral- 
ity. That the indulgences were the source of many of the 
gravest crimes, the Roman authorities give ample evidence. 
Pius Y. declared the indulgences rendered men more prone 
to sin, in the confidence that they could purchase remission 
for a trifiing price. He declared that simony was one of 
the scandals caused by the indulgences. The ruling princes 
of Saxony, in the time of Luther, would not permit the sale 
to be carried on in their provinces. They were indignant 
at the vice and crime which accompanied the traffic. 
iJ^'either the Franciscan nor the Augustine monks would 
have any part in the shameful commerce in sins. The 
Dominicans took naturally to the trade, as they were not 
at all concerned with matters of conscience, while the other 
orders in Germany, especially the Augustines, seemed to 
have felt some little moral restraint. 

The sale of indulgences is still a traffic in the Roman 
Church. In Spain it is a means of considerable profit to 
the priest and bishop, and likely to the Pope. In the 
provinces where the greatest ignorance prevails, it is con- 
tinued in with largest success. 

The people are led to pay their money, believing that 
they in some way are purchasing relief from sin. Those 
who can afford to give large sums, feel encouraged to com- 
mit sins, as their money has a purchasing power with the 
church, which can relieve them from the guilt and conse- 
quences of sin. The condition prevails, though to a less 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


193 


extent, in the ^outh of Italy. The Papacy has reduced 
Italy to beggary, and can and does dupe the people, though 
not as much as formerly. 

In Ireland the Papal schemes for making money enjoy a 
rich field. 'No portion of the world, considering the pov- 
erty of the country, gives so liberally to the Peter’s pence 
gift to the Pope. The way in which the ignorant and 
superstitious Irish are duped by the priesthood is a moral 
mystery. It has taken centuries, almost ages, to reduce 
that once great people. But when a race is so deteriorated 
by knavery and fraud, it seems almost beyond recovery. 

HOW THE PKIESTS DUPE THE IRISH. 

The Irish have been led to believe that St. Patrick was 
the greatest of all Irishmen, and the greatest of all Roman 
Catholics ; while the fact is, he was not a Roman Catholic 
at all, and was a Scotchman by birth. In all soberness the 
Irish peasantry, around the beautiful lakes of Killarney, 
will describe the way in which Patrick drove the snakes 
from that country, while the science of natural history shows 
that reptiles never existed in that country, and could not. 
It is not ludicrous slander invented against the supersti- 
tious Irish^ of the lower counties of Ireland, but a fact con- 
firmed by frequent affirmations of those defrauded victims 
of the priesthood, both in Ireland and those who have lived 
for years in this land, that the priest can, as a punishment 
for disobedience to the Church, turn a man into a rat. 
They affirm authenticated instances where it has been done. 

THE POPE A GAMBLER. 

On the table of the author is an indulgence card issued by 
authority of the Church, and for use in Ireland. It directs 
the money to be sent to “ Sister Catherine Norris Superi- 
oress, of the Sisters of Charity, Ballaghaderin, County 


194 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Mayo^ Ireland?'^ On the card is a cross, -with an orna- 
mental border, and the arms of which are divided into sixty 
small squares. The people are encouraged to go out and 
‘‘collect five cents for every small square, (piercing the 
same with a pin) till the sixty are full.’’ This money is 
sent to the superioress^'^^ and, in return, an indulgence 
for three hundred days is given. It is declared this indul- 
gence is a balance against past offences, — that this money 
purchases relief from sin ; in addition, it guarantees divine 
grace to resist temptation. And it is promised that, in ad- 
dition to all this, souls in purgatory shall be benefited to the 
extent of three hundred masses. And all this fraud, for 
which some one ought to be responsible before the law, is 
carried on under the cognizance and with the approval of 
the Irish bishops. And the Pope knows of it, and prevents 
it not. To gamble on the credulity of an ignorance, manu- 
factured by the Church, is the worst form of gambling. 
That the Pope would sanction this is not strange, when it is 
remembered he realizes on the gambling operations at 
Monte Carlo. 

LOW CONDITION OF THE lEISH CHARGEABLE TO THE PAPACY. 

That the low condition of the Irish has been brought 
about by Papal rule, is held by those most competent to 
judge. The Duke of Wellington in hi^ deliverance on the 
Eoman Church in Ireland says ; “I must observe, that no- 
body can have looked into the transactions in Ireland, for 
the last hundred and fifty years, without at the same time 
seeing, that the Koman Catholic Church has acted on the 
principle of a combination ; that this combination has been 
the instrument, by which all the evil that has been done has 
been effected, and that to this cause the existing state of 
things in Ireland is to be attributed.” 


THE ROMAH PAPAGT. 


195 


PEOCUEING MONEY UNDEE FALSE PEETENCES. 

Indulgences and the mass are near akin. The priests can 
pray a soul out of purgatory, but they must have money 
for doing so. The consequences of sin put, and keep, for a 
time the souls of all Homan Catholics in purgatory. The 
money paid for masses for the dead is to purchase relief 
from the punishment of sin ; while the money paid for an 
indulgence for the living is to purchase relief from sin it- 
self. The two are a terrible fraud. Their custom in our 
country is a severe reflection on the intelligence of Roman 
Catholics. The mass is continued in every Roman Catholic 
Church in the land. But it is not generally supposed that 
any attempt has been made in the United States to sell in- 
dulgences, yet such is the fact and a present fact too. 
They can be bought in the city of Boston. They are pur- 
chased by ignorant people, who believe there is a virtue of 
some sort connected with the bit of fancy work, made by 
the nuns, and blessed by the bishops. It is claimed that 
all the money procured, by the sale of these indulgences, is 
devoted to charity. Should this be true, though it is to be 
gravely doubted, it is none the less a fraud, which should 
be prosecuted under the law against procuring money by 
false pretences. 

INDULGENCES SOLD IN UNITED STATES. 

A very little while ago a priest in Pittsburgh issued and 
circulated a printed circular, authorizing indulgences, for 
the benefit of a shrine of the Virgin Mary, in his Church. 
This circular describes at length the shrine and its history ; 
enlarging upon the spiritual benefits to be derived from 
prayers made to Mary at her shrine ; specifies particular 
days when the prayers are particularly beneficial ; declares 


196 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


that indulgences have been duly authorized for the benefit 
of the patrons of the shrine ; explains how these indulgences 
secure relief from sin, and its penalties, both for the living 
and the dead ; and in closing, directs how this indulgence 
money may be sent to the priest, through the mails. 

In this circular are found abominable falsehoods, gross de- 
ception, criminal intent, and shameful idolatry. And yet 
the whole affair is under the care and patronage of, and iu 
perfect accord with, the Roman Catholic Church. Where 
there are such unseemly immoralities in religious things, 
what is more to be expected than stupendous political 
hypocrisies on the part of the Romish priests and bishops 
in our country ? 

The principle underlying moral and religious life will 
appear in political action. If * fraud and deception are 
means in use, in • Church management, they will be found 
sixty-fold more potent, in political conduct. The religious 
methods of the Papal Church, in the United States, should 
not be overlooked, in their bearing upon the political pro- 
pensities of the Papal power. The despotic spirit of the 
Papacy is in incontrovertible variance with our free institu- 
tions ; while its well known ecclesiastical fraudulent methods 
cannot but defraud us of our liberties. Ecclesiastical de- 
formities mean political enormities ! 

The position of the Roman Church on indulgences is very 
cunningly shaped, and such resort is made to sophistry that 
the unthinking section of that Church, which is by far the 
largest of her communion, can be easily deceived. The 
Council of Trent, the findings of which we are specially 
told are in authority now, held that: “Whoever shall 
affirm that when the grace of justification is received, the 
offense of the penitent sinner is so forgiven, and the sentence 
of eternal punishment so reversed that there remains no 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


197 


temporal punishment to be endured before the entrance in- 
to the kingdom of heaven, either in this world or in the 
future state in purgatory, let him be accursed.” 

From this deliverance of the Council of Trent, it would 
seem that not sin itself, but the consequences and penalties 
of sin, were lifted by the power of the indulgences. And 
this teaching is carried out by the opinion of Bishop Chal- 
loner, in a work entitled, “The Catholic Christian In- 
structed,” in which he says: “An indulgence is simply a 
remission or mitigation of those temporal punishments 
which the sinner still owes to the eternal Justice, even after 
the forgiveness of the guilt of his offense.” It is in such 
an understanding of the doctrine that Bishop Frederick 
issued the following indulgence petition to the Pope, as re- 
ported in SadliePs Directory for 1871: “Saint Patrick’s 
Day. Most Holy Father, James Frederick, Bishop of Phil- 
adelphia, most humbly begs that your Holiness would deign 
to grant to all the faithful of his diocese who, having duly 
confessed and worthily approached the holy Sacrament of 
the Eucharist on the feast of St. Patrick, shall visit their 
representative churches, a plenary indulgence, which may 
be accounted every year, and which may also be applied in 
favor, aid or assistance of the souls in purgatory.” This 
indulgence was granted over the seal of the Pope’s secretary. 

A HORRIBLE DOCTRINE. 

This understanding of indulgences is silly and fraudulent 
enough. But a much more extreme view is taken, and 
taught, by the less scrupulous authorities of the Papal 
Church. Perrone, a distinguished Roman Catholic theo- 
logical lecturer, says : ‘ ‘ Indulgences free a man from obliga- 
tion to punishment, not only in the sight of the Church, but 
also in the sight of God.” Charles Butler, another Roman 


198 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Catholic' theologian, says that his Church “has received 
power from God to remit temporal punishment, partially, 
or wholly, including suffering in purgatory. ’ ’ J ohn Milner, 
a Roman Catholic theologian, declares : “ It is the received 
doctrine of the Church, that an indulgence is an actual re- 
mission by God himself.” 

On such extreme teachings, Tetzel was justified in his 
appeal to the people to buy remission of their sins. He 
did not use extreme words when he said : “Draw near, and 
I will give you letters duly sealed, by which even the sins 
you shall hereafter desire to commit, shall be forgiven you.” 
iN’othing here said about the temporal punishment attach- 
ing to sin in this life, but sin itself. 

BLASPHEMOUS UTTERANCE OF THE PRESENT POPE. 

Worse, and still, the present Pope, Leo XIII., holds to 
the efficacy of indulgences over sin itself, and has authorized 
them, and himself granted them. Upon the occasion of 
his golden jubilee, but the other year, he issued indulgences 
in a sort of a general way, as an inducement for his subjects 
to come to Rome, and spend their money. After inviting 
both sexes to make a pilgrimage to Rome, on the occasion 
of his jubilee, to offer him that honor and obedience, due 
the supreme authority conceded to him from God, and on 
the condition that they are penitent and have confessed, 
and have partaken of the communion for the extirpation of 
heresy, the conversion of sinners, and the exaltation of the 
Church, he “concedes to them” — this is his language — 
'‘full indulgence., and remission of all their sins ; which 
indulgences., all and each., remission of sins and condon- 
ing s of penances, can he applied also to the souls detained 
in purgatory, and it is our will that they he conceded for 
this year only.^^ 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


199 


In the year 18S8 this same Leo XIII., issued a permit to 
Prince Amadeo to marry his niece. Certainly this is a 
crime, by the laws of Italy. Certainly it is a sin of incest, 
by the laws of the Church. The Pope granted an indul- 
gence for this Prince to live in a continued state of incest. 
And he did it, according to his highest authority in the 
Church, in that country, because the Prince and Princess 
have deserved well of the Church.” Here is the whole 
spirit of the Homish Church. Serve the Papal Church 
zealously and faithfully, and no matter what crimes or sins 
are committed, or desire is entertained to commit, they can 
be condoned, aye, they will be authorized — on the payment 
of a little money — and the quality of evil, whicli attaches 
to such sins, will be abated, and the. punishment, whether 
of this life or the next, which is consequent to them, will be 
remitted. 

POLITICAL SIDE OF THIS DOCTRINE. 

The political side of this doctrine is readily seen. If the 
Pope holds the right to issue a permit to commit one crime, 
and Leo did this very thing against the laws of Italy, then 
he can grant the right to commit any crime. And upon his 
ignorant subjects — purposely kept in ignorance for such 
reasons — the power of indulgence from the consequences of 
sin and crimes, goes far towards increasing the disposition 
to both sin and crime. 

It is difficult to conceive of a greater evil for a nation, 
than for a considerable number of its citizens to believe and 
hold, and, when occasion comes, act out the belief, that 
crime against law, human or divine, may be committed, and 
a man, whom they serve, has a power to efface all the moral 
consequences. Persons who hold such a view of Papal 
ability to deal with sin, are dangerous elements in the social 
order, possess very low and indistinct ideas of the general 


200 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


rights of the community, and are sure to display a heart of 
treason in the hour of a serious crisis, involving a conflict 
between duties to country and to Pope; while they are 
more subject to the peculiar conditions which provoke both 
sin and crime. 

EOMISH BIOT AGAINST FEEE SPEECH. 

It is well to put on record two instances, of recent occur- 
rence, to illustrate these two last statements. Our public 
dispatches are burdened with the reports of a riot, of im- 
mense proportions, in a southern city. A lecture was an- 
nounced on the political evils of the Papacy. A secret 
Koman Catholic society declared it should not occur, and 
took measures to prevent it, lawful measures at first. The 
ignorant Roman Catholic population was inflamed. When 
the municipal authorities declined to interfere to prevent 
free speech, a howling mob, thousands strong, surged about 
the hall, broke in every window, threatened the life of the 
lecturer, and endangered the lives of several hundred citi- 
zens. The vicar general of the Roman Catholic Church 
failed to control the excited mob, the police were powerless 
to quell it, and the military had to be summoned to drive it 
back with the bayonet. When the commanding officer of 
the State troops approached his men, to detail a company 
to guard the lecturer to his hotel, a company of Irish Cath- 
olics, belonging to the command, asked to be excused, and 
the officer in command saw fit to grant their request. That 
is the situation always, with the element strictly holding to 
the power of the Church to relieve them of the moral re- 
sponsibility attaching to broken vows, and violated obliga- 
tions. In the emergency of a conflict between the sover- 
eignty of the country, and the sovereignty of the Pope, 
Roman Catholics of the ignorant and bigoted type are dis- 
loyal to country. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


201 


EFFECT OF INDULGENCES ON CEIME. 

The relation between an indulgence-selling Church and 
the criminal classes, is shown in onr daily observation of 
current facts, and particularly by examinations made in 
. criminal statistics. This latter class of evidences is most 
overwhelming, that the Roman Catholic Church, consti- 
tuting not over twelve per cent, of the population, furnish 
over fifty per cent, of the graver crimes. The sheriff’s office 
in San Francisco has lately furnished a list of the murder- 
ers executed in that city, since its incorporation. The re- 
port stipulates their nativity and religion. The whole num- 
ber of executions reported being twenty-seven, it is some- 
what startling to be told by this report, that only seven were 
natives of the United States, while Germany and Austria 
furnished but two each, and England, Spain, Italy and 
China furnished one each. The remaining twelve were na- 
tives of Ireland. As to their religion, three had none, one 
was a Pagan, one held to the Presbyterian, two to the 
Methodist Church, and the remaining twenty were Roman 
Catholics. This report does not state how many, guilty of 
the crime of murder, were never executed. The power of 
the Papal Church in saving her people from the penalties 
of just laws is widely known. 

The Papal Church has not in any way, at any time, dis- 
credited, disapproved of, or repudiated the doctrine of in- 
dulgence, the inquisition, or the Papal claim of the sover- 
eign power of the Popes over the moral thought and con- 
duct of its subjects, in the domain of the political as well 
as spiritual. Because of this solemn fact, modern Christian 
civilization must more and more stand aloof from the eccle- 
siasticism of the Papal Church. 


TO SWITZERLAND. 


‘‘ When bribery can show its face, 

There Freedom has no dwelling-place; 
Freedom must stand by Bravery, 

Sheltered and guarded evermore. 

Amid the bloody ranks of war. 

Amid the fearful dance of death; 

Let gleaming swords drawn from the sheath. 
And sharp-edged spears and axes, be 
My guardians, golden Liberty. 

But where a Freeman’s heart is met. 

And by a tempting bribe beset. 

There noble Freedom, glorious boon ! 

And name and blood of friends too soon 
Are cheaply prized ; and rudely torn 
The oaths in holy covenant sworn.’' 


Does the Roman Church 

KNOWINGLY PERPETRATE 

FRAUDS UPON THEIR OWN 

PEOPLE ? 

There was there an image of the Virgin Mary, which 
had the miraculous property of weeping. Many a time 
have I seen it, with the big tears trickling down its cheeks, 
and I, as did all others, believed it to be unquestionably a 
miracle. When the insurgents penetrated into the chapel, 
as I have above stated, they tore the image down from 
its niche, and discovered behind its head small tubes con- 
ducting from a basin in which water was poured; and 
thus the image wept. 

In the town of Baguet was a figure of the Savior, which 
had the property of sweating. This was called a miracle ; 
but the insurgents who tore it down, with its fellow idols, 
found that a vessel of boiling water was placed beneath 
the statue, and the steam was carried through the tubes 
over the body, and issued through small holes, or pores. 

Life of a Spanish Monk. 


PART VI. 


THE PATRIOT CAUSE IlST SWITZERLAND, AND 
ROME’S PAST AND PRESENT HATRED 
FOR LIBERTY. 

The little countries on the map of geography, have held 
the big nations in the book of history. Quality counts, 
rather than quantity. Character is heavier than numbers. 
A few people, in a poor country, with poverty and God on 
their side, contribute more to liberty and morality, and 
consequently to the elevation of the race, than a large pop- 
ulation, in a vast territory, with great wealth, but without 
God. 

Careful readings in the history of civilizations do not 
make us overly hopeful as to the accomplishments of the 
highest moral results in duty performed, heroic efforts for 
improvement made, and happiness enjoyed, where the gov- 
ernmental domain stretches over a vast continent ; on the 
contrary, that legislation of a moral cast, and those noble 
sentiments of liberty, which best inspire life in a people, 
and all of which best conserve the highest welfare of a na- 
( 204 ) 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


205 


tion, have mostly had their most distinguished illustrations 
in the small countries, whose geography would prove com- 
paratively insignificant, were it not for the largeness of 
their history. Compactness and intensity, rather than ex- 
tension, have figured in the history of the development of 
religion and freedom. Patriotism works a more uniform 
cohesion, and heroism is more evenly diffused in the small 
countries. And here, too, laws are more in accord with the 
interests of all sections, and institutions are more in touch 
with all the people. There is more of sameness in custom, 
and unity in thought, which may retard variety in civil- 
ization ; but they will, on the other hand, contribute to 
solidity of national character. 

THE GEEATNESS OF THE LITTLE COUXTEIES. 

Compared with the immense plains of mighty Assyria 
and great Chaldea, Palestine is no larger than the palm of 
the han(J. Yet from this small land the world had brought 
to it a divine system of religion, with all its heavenly in- 
stitutions and uplifting impulses. Little Greece is only a 
rocky peninsular, sliding down the side of the ^gean, and 
extending out into the wild waters of the Mediterranean. 
Yet in little Greece philosophy was born, dramatic poetry 
took its highest flight in ancient times, and art, bearing 
marks of richest genius, reached its maturity. 

Place a golden thimble at the right spot on the map of 
Europe, and you have placed a dome over entire Moravia. 
Yet in the noblest motives that can actuate the human 
breast, in religious hymnology, and in Christian missions, 
diminuative Moravia walks off with the palm, and there are 
none to dispute. Standing on the lower tier of the Swiss 
Alps you can look out across entire Piedmont. Yet here 


206 


THE BOM AN PAPACY. 


the flames of religious freedom were brightly burning when 
they were not to be seen elsewhere in Europe ; and Papal 
Eome required ten hundred years to extinguish it, and 
then it soon came forth again. 

Scotland has an area of but thirty thousand square miles ; 
but the magnitude of Scotland’s contribution to liberty, 
religion and the sterling forces of civilization, mark it as a 
great country, and in some respects beyond comparison ; 
and in the mighty achievements of exploration and mis- 
sionary enterprise none of the large nations need compete 
for the admiration due. 

THE LAEGEST CONTKIBUTIOHS TO LIBEETY, EDUCATION AND 
MOEALITY. 

Switzerland is about half the size of Scotland. But her 
work, for both patriotism and religion, has made for her a 
fame which will never pass from the memory of scholars. 
All of these small countries combined, Palestine,' Greece, 
Moravia, Switzerland and Scotland, would make an area less 
than one-third of the size of the state of Texas. 'Nor should 
it be forgotten, that at least two-thirds of the surface of 
these little countries are taken up with sterility — morasses, 
lakes, rivers and inaccessible mountains. But one-third is 
flt, therefore, for habitation and cultivation. The combined 
population of all these countries at no one time exceeded 
twelve and half million persons. And yet, in the valors of 
war, the arts of peace, the blessings of religion and the con- 
servations of liberty and education, these little nations have 
attained to greater heights in mental and moral acquisitions, 
and made vaster consignments to human thought, than 
the large nations. We argue nothing from this, but only 
state an interesting and wholly overlooked fact, which the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


207 


history of civilization teaches in many an impressive lesson. 
While the great kingdoms, in size, have wrought at the 
mill of ambition, to grind out pride and vanity, which have 
ripened into weakness and licentiousness, and consequent- 
ly have hurried these nations forward into decay, the 
small nations of the world, equipped in moral, rather 
than physical strength, and actuated by motives, rather 
than moved by impulses, have originated great systems 
of thought, prosecuted vast and healthy reforms, have 
been the first to champion the rising cause of liberty, and 
have glorified themselves by giving honor to the truths 
born in the heart by the spirit of God. The least in size 
shall be first and greatest in high esteem of the ever ex- 
tending future. Herein is shown the truth of Scripture, 
‘‘God hath chosen the weak things to confound the 
mighty.’’ 

SWITZEKLAND THE PICTURESQUE. 

Picturesque Switzerland ! Majestically enthroned amidst 
its enormous waterfalls, the Reichenbach, with its seven 
falls, and the Liesbach with thirteen, while the Stanbbach 
has a lofty plunge of one thousand and one feet ; its nearly 
five hundred wonderful glaciers, one in the Bernese Ober- 
land thirteen miles long and nineteen hundred and sixty- 
eight yards wide ; its nearly one hundred lakes and Alpine 
tarns, in whose blue-shaded waters are mirrored the gor- 
geous beauty and grandeur of the Alpine scenery. 

Among these small countries, holding a distinguished 
place, and doing a distinguished work in the cause of hu- 
man liberty, is that of Switzerland, sitting humbly beside 
her little lakes, but lifting her Alpine arms, whose hands 
are gloved with the pure white of the perpetual snow, into 
the sky-heights, from whence she draws her inspiration of 


208 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


freedom. The very impressions of Swiss scenery upon the 
mind are those of religion and patriotism. A race is braver, 
more free, and ought to be better because of such an habi- 
tation. As the day draws to a close in Switzerland, the 
last light of the setting sun falls upon the long range of 
snowy peaks, and the Alpine after-glow is on, and the effect 
on the mind is most solemn. Those great battlements, 
lofty towers, and graceful pinnacles are all ablaze with the 
streaming fire of the dying day, while down in the valleys 
are refiected dark shadows, mountain ridges, forest ranges, 
and snowy cliffs. The writer of this book, years ago, on 
the upper deck of a beautiful little craft, gliding over 
the clear waters of Lake Lucerne, and about to leave the 
country, wrote this last impression of Switzerland : “ Swit- 
zerland is one great cathedral of nature, unmade by human 
hands, and ought to be unprofaned by Romish priest. The 
lakes are the naves ; the dark caves and ravines are the 
crypts ; the little valleys are the chapels ; the glacial caverns 
are the confessionals, where God alone hears the confession ; 
the mountains are the galleries ; Mont Blanc is the mighty 
dome ; the Alpine heights are the pinnacles and turrets ; 
the basaltic rocks are the altars ; the northwest winds are 
the choir, which, sweeping through the passes and over the 
peaks, play the anthems of eternal praise through the pa- 
triarchal pines. And that anthem is ‘ In Excelsis Deo.^ ” 

Oh ! ye land of the Alpine snows ! Thou art a country 
of glory, in the grandeur of thy scenery ! Thou art equally 
a country of glory, in the display of the moral grandeur of 
thy lovers of liberty and thy champions of truth ! 

SWITZERLAND’S LANGUAGE TO AMERICA. 

This small country was the home of one of the greatest 
reformers, and the field of a majestic struggle for political 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


209 


and religious rights. The ancient and noble Swiss race had 
been betrayed into a willing recruiting ground for Papal 
hirelings, through the deceptions of the Popes, and this re- 
former led his fellow Swissmen to throw off the yoke, and 
become valiant for right and truth. They only became 
great as they became independent of Papal Rome. And 
Switzerland says to America : “Ye freemen of the western 
world, study my history and take warning from my mis- 
fortune, and free yourselves, while you may, from the 
menace and peril of Papal oppression and deception. Be- 
hold my people reduced to slaves, and made to serve as 
vassals in the Papal army, wronged, and led to wrong 
others. Look upon my people forced into ignorance in 
order that they might be submissive to the Papal burdens. 
Watch the course of liberty and intelligence in my country, 
which followed the divergence from Rome. Reflect upon 
the growth of the national spirit and a loving devotion to 
country, which began the day of our uprising against Rome’s 
tyrannies. View the free institutions in my bosom, and 
remember that they are the fruit of that generous work 
performed, amidst all sorts of perils and persecutions, by 
the heroic patriots who led the notable flght with corrupt 
Rome. Consider all these things, and be fully persuaded 
that no free people can long continue so, if it be allowed 
that Rome has any right to interfere with the internal 
management of national affairs. Do this, and take warn- 
ing, that your own high civilization be not betrayed into 
ruin by the arch* betrayer of all the nations.” 

THE BIRTHPLACE OF A PATRIOT. 

Up in the Alps, near the head of the Rhine, hard by the 
humble village of Wildhaus, stands even to this day, an 
old shepherd’s cottage, over which the roaring Alpine winds 


210 


THE HOMAN PAPACY. 


have swept for four liuiiclred ^’^ears. This was the birth 
place of Ulric Zwingli. He was born on Hew Year’s day, 
1484, which was just seven weeks after Luther came into this 
world. His boyhood was spent in the village school, and 
in the mountains watching the herds as they fed along the 
upper ranges of pasture. During the early days of May, 
when the higher Alps are green with the pasture grass, it 
was the custom to drive the cattle, musical with their clang- 
ing bells, to the mountains. This was the task of the older 
boys. They would remain, caring for the cattle, for days 
and weeks, without coming down into habitable portions of 
the mountains. Amid sun and storm, lightning glare and 
thunder roar, they would live among the heights. This 
proved a mighty training for the thoughtful mind. It 
could not but develop the heroic elements of both heart and 
mind. Such was the task of young Zwingli for a number 
of summers. It proved a great training ground for him. 
It was to him what Horeb was to Moses, and the wilderness 
was to John the Baptist. There was unmistakable provi- 
dence in it. His lungs were being filled with the stimulating 
air of the Alps, as his mind was being expanded by com- 
munion with the very sublimities of nature, and reflection 
on the attributes of God. The one made him brave in after 
years, and the others made him true and just. In this way 
are the real leaders of men made. 

HOW THE PATRIOT IS MADE. 

His heart was made patriotic, and his spirit daring and 
enduring, as he sat by the great fire place of winter nights, 
while the angry Alpine blasts blew without, and he listened 
to stories of the olden time ; how the pious missionaries, 
from across the sea, came with the Gospel to the early Swiss, 


TEE ROMAN PAP ACT. 


211 


and how they suffered ; stories of how his forefathers had 
withstood the enemies of Swiss liberties, who came from 
despotic Austria, and rolled back their armies like ava- 
lanches from the mountain steeps. Ulric’ s grandmother re- 
galed him with many a great story of early Swiss adventure, 
and Bible patriarch and prophet. Those long winter even- 
ings were great school hours for the mountain boy, in pre- 
paring him for the grave struggle he was to soon enter upon 
for liberty and God. He grew up not unlike the mountain 
fountain from which he drank. 

It would prove a genuine blessing to our American homes 
if the hours, when the children were about the family cir- 
cle, were spent in telling of stories and anecdotes of heroic 
acts, patriotic deeds and pious lives. The children would 
unconsciously be educated in those most excellent qualities. 
When childhood from six to sixteen listen mostly to small 
gossip and neighborhood twaddle, the manhood and wom- 
anhood fed upon such mental light diet, will most necessari- 
ly be inferior. 

Ulric Zwingli was God’s leader in the Swiss Eeformation, 
and while we look at his life and work, we also are tracing 
the character and meaning of that wonderful uprising of the 
Swiss mountaineers for a pure Gospel and just rights. 

HOW A GREAT MAN IS MADE. 

Zwingli is first to be regarded as a devout student of 
God’s Word. In his Alpine home on the slope of Mount 
Sentis, he sat by the fireside, and imbibed the stirring Bible 
stories, as they fell from the lips of his old grandmother. 
Here the seed was sown. After mastering the classical 
studies, he began with ardor to drink the living waters from 
the perennial stream of Scripture. While a chaplain in 


212 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


the army, during a campaign in Italy, he found in the 
library in Milan an old mass-book by Ambrose, which 
greatly differed from the one then in use in the Church by 
the authority of the Pope. A study of this ancient book 
of the Church led him to conclude that the mass-book was 
the work of man, and subject to change. At once he was 
led to the high opinion, and made the declaration, that the 
“Word of God alone is eternal and unchangeable.” He 
was brought to see that the Holy Sj)irit alone could give the 
true meaning of the Word. He besought God, in exhaust- 
ing prayer, to bestow upon him the favor of understanding 
the sense of the Word. His zeal in Scriptural knowledge 
greatly contributed to make him the leader among the Swiss 
reformers. His profound study of the Word led him to 
exalt in his soul the Lord Jesus Christ, and to look upon 
his Gospel as the charter of liberty. With him Christ was 
“all and in all.” This exalted conception of the Saviour- 
hood of Christ and the liberty of his Gospel, became with 
Zwingli a very passion, both of faith and love. 

This same high conception of the Wonderful Christ has 
been attested by the leading thinkers, whose thoughts are 
worth pondering. 

Jean Paul Richter says : “ The Christ is holiest among 

the mighty, and mightiest among the holy, who has lifted 
with his pierced hand empires off their hinges, and turned 
the stream of centuries out of its channel, and still governs 
the ages.” The great German poet, Goethe, bears this dig- 
nified testimony : “I esteem the Gospels to be thoroughly 
genuine, for there shines forth from them the refiected 
splendor of a sublimity, proceeding from the person of 
Jesus Christ, of so divine a kind as only the divine could 
ever have manifested on earth.” That robust thinker, 
Thos. Carlyle, exclaims: “Jesus of Nazareth our divinest 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


213 


symbol ! Higher has the human thought not yet reached.” 
Herder testifies : “ Jesus Christ is, in the noblest and most 

perfect sense, the realized ideal of humanity.” Napoleon 
broke forth in his impassioned style : “I know men, and 
I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man.” John Stuart 
Mill, out of his calm and philosophical method, bears wit- 
ness: “Who among the disciples of Jesus could invent 
his sayings, or imagine the life and character revealed in 
the Gospels ? Christ is charged with a special, express and 
unique commission from God, to lead mankind to truth 
and virtue.” 

POWER OF THE BIBLE IN CIVILIZATION. 

Such is the conception of the Bible held by all the think- 
ers, leaders and reformers who stand for the broadest and 
most wholesome principles of liberty. The men who see in 
the Bible the text-book of all human duties, are the same 
who conserve the best interests of civilization. It is im- 
portant that we bear in mind, as we look over the great 
Keformation confiict, that the religious and political re- 
forms of those morning centuries of the modern period, 
were inaugurated, and led into accomplished facts, by the 
men who first saw them in the Bible. There is to be enter- 
tained little hope for any very general and lasting reform 
in our own land, freeing our laws and institutions from the 
Homan dominance, until men learn their duty out of the 
Bible. 

Zwingli not only received the sublime truths of the Bible 
in his mind, but he drank from the heart. His was a heart 
understanding. Hence he was heroic and devoted for every 
deed the times were to exact of him. Christ was the theme 
^ar excellence of his preaching. With Martin Luther it 
was justification by faith ! With John Calvin it was the 


214 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


electing purpose of God, through grace ! But with Ulric 
Zwingli it was the personal Christ living in the hearts of 
his people. Thus did the reformers supplement each other 
in their work ! 

A GEEAT PATRIOT ORATOR. 

This lofty conception of the Savior, with his fine bearing 
and impassioned eloquence, made Zwingli the greatest 
preacher of his generation. Learned men walked fifty 
miles amidst the glacial perils of Switzerland to hear this 
man preach. As an orator, Zwingli has not had his deserts. 
He needs to be spoken of in the same catalogue with De- 
mosthenes the Grecian, Cicero the Homan, Pitt the English- 
man, and Bossuet the Frenchman. Some of his sermons 
must forever attract the attention of the diligent jplodder 
in the field of Church history, and the teachings of patriot- 
ism. 

A SPECIMEN OF PAPAL KNAVERY. 

Such a sermon was preached by Zwingli while he was 
preacher at Einsieden. It was preached against a great 
wrong. In the time of Charlemange, a German monk, seek- 
ing solitude and prayer, had built a cell on a high hill, 
among the pines south of Lake Zurich. He was murdered 
by two robbers who had no thought of detection. The 
monk had two pet ravens, which followed them to Zurich, 
croaking and fiopping their wings. Their consciences were 
troubled and they betrayed themselves. They were tried 
and executed on the spot where now stands the “Raven 
Inn’’ in Zurich. On the spot of the monk’s cell a churck 
was built, with an altar for pilgrims. It was built in honor 
of the Virgin Mary. When consecrated, it was given out 
by crafty priests that a voice from above was heard in ap- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


215 


proval of the enterprise, and that angels attended the Vir- 
gin as the church was dedicated. Though the monks knew 
it to be a trick, the Pope declared it a miracle, and Leo 
VIII. ordered the faithful not to doubt. Forgiveness was 
offered to all pilgrims who should visit the shrine, which 
was inscribed with the words, ‘‘ Here is a full remission of 
sins.” For nine centuries the line of pilgrims has been 
unbroken. A town sprang up. It has for centuries been 
the most renowned resort for Catholic pilgrims in all mid- 
dle Europe. The throng reaching from one hundred thou- 
sand to two hundred thousand a year, and formerly, three 
hundred thousand a year visited the spot and left their 
money behind them. 

THE VIEGIH SHEIHES AEE PAPAL FEAUDS. 

The shrines of the Virgin Mary, operated under the aus- 
pices of the Roman Catholic Church, are a queer kind of 
fraud. The Pope, by simple act of his will, can attach to 
particular spots peculiar spiritual virtues, which, however, 
are only available on the payment, in advance, of a certain 
sum of money. The extravagant claims put up for the 
remedial qualities, which attach to these shrines, delude 
multitudes of ignorant people into long and expensive pil- 
grimages, or outlays of money at home, deceived into the 
belief that they thus secure certain benefits of intercession 
or protection from the Virgin Mary. 

Every country in Europe, at one time or another, has had 
these shrines. Some legend connected with a particular 
spot is usually the only ground for the origin of miraculous 
manifestations of the Virgin. These manifestations are the 
fruitful cause of pretended benefits for all who will pay 
their money. 


216 


TUE ROMAN PAPACY. 


There are many of these Virgin shrines in this western 
world. There are two in Mexico, which in this century be- 
came rivals, and were the means of incitement to hate and 
war. The principal shrine was that of the ‘ ‘ Lady of Remem- 
edies,” which was brought over with Cortez, the Spanish 
conqueror. It is a large wooden doll, rudely carved with a 
penknife, two holes for the eyes and one for the mouth. 
ISTo Pagan idol could be uglier. Yet the image is hand- 
somely dressed, and for three centuries has been worshiped 
by the Spanish aristocracy in that country. Some of the 
robing of this image was valued at $3,000,000. It is de- 
clared by the priest in charge of this silly fraud, that every 
attempt made to patch up the broken and hideous image, 
brought sickness and death to the presumptuous artist. 
The Papal wife of Maximilian made this image her protect- 
ress while in Mexico, and earnestly carried wax tapers 
about in honor of it. The rival Virgin shrine in Mexico is 
that of the “Lady of Guadalupe,” which was patronized 
more by the native Mexicans. The extravagant show of 
worship to this idol by the ignorant classes is beyond belief, 
were it not confirmed by all the reliable witnesses, who 
have seen the adorations of the December anniversary of 
the image. Clusters of emeralds and diamonds adorn the 
drapery and throne of the image. As recently as eight 
years ago— no doubt is true still — an ecclesiastic stood at 
the door of the cathedral, and sold medals to the pilgrims 
to this shrine. In connection with the medal was a printed 
slip on which might be read : 

“ Our most holy father, the sovereign Pope Pius VI., by 
his brief of the 13th of April, 1785, has conceded plenary 
indulgence in the hour of death to all those who shall then 
have upon them one of the medals of Our Lady of Guada- 
lujpe^ which, ready blest, are sold in her sanctuary.” 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


217 


THIS HUMBUG* FOUHD IN THE UNITED STATES. 

This humbug is found in the United States. There are 
several such shrines of the Virgin, about which, it is claimed, 
cluster supernatural influences, ready to be dispensed for 
money. It is rather strange how these idols give forth 
their virtues only when money is paid. There is one of 
these shrines at Pittsburgh, another in New Jersey. There 
is one at Buffalo. The paper published in the interest of 
the latter is on the table of the author. It claims the most 
impossible benefits will accrue to those who will send money 
in the name of “Our Lady of Victory.’’ From this paper 
it is learned that Pope Leo XIII., in 1888, at the request of 
Bishop Byan, did establish this shrine, and endowed it 
with the privilege of having indulgences issued from it, for 
souls in purgatory. This paper reveals the idolatry, blas- 
phemy, superstition and deception connected with this 
shrine. It is promised that “ upon this altar will be daily 
immolated the Lamb without spot, continuing the sacrifice 
of Calvary, and bestowing innumerable blessings upon the 
dead as well as the living. ’ ’ The Pagan priest, who officiates 
at this idol shrine, says in his paper : “If you wish to enter 
the Harbor of Salvation, strive to celebrate the festivals of 
our Blessed Lady in a worthy manner, for Mary is our only 
refuge.” 

The enormity of fraud connected with these shrines was 
much greater in the sixteenth century. Intelligent scholars 
in Scripture understood the stupendous deception. But 
not all such decried it. It took one who had a knowledge 
of Scripture to understand the heathenism of the custom ; 
but it took one with a Scriptural knowledge, that is a knowl- 
edge according to Scripture, to cry out against the evil. 
Such a man was the great Swiss reformer and patriot, 
Ulric Zwingli. 


218 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


A SEEMON TALKED ABOUT OVEE EUEOPE. 

Zwingli felt tliat the people should be taught that the 
visits to this shrine had no religious virtue attaching to 
them whatever, and that the whole enterprise was only a 
device to bring money into the coifers of the Church. In 
1516 the baron, who had charge of the particular district, 
in which was located the shrine, a man of sincere piety and 
out of heart with the fraud of the place, invited Zwingli to 
become the preacher at the convent, which was connected 
with the shrine. It was the day of the angel consecration, 
which filled the church, the town and the valley with peo- 
ple. Zwingli went into the pulpit, and boldly held forth 
against the superstition of the multitudes, which had come 
from all parts of Europe. Shots were fired which were 
heard down at Rome. ‘ ‘ Long pilgrimages, offerings, images, 
invocations of saints cannot secure to you the grace of God. 
Who is a hypocritical Christian but the Pope, who exalts 
himself in the jdace of Christ?” Think of thousands of 
people, who thought that their mission was pleasing to God, 
and for the good of their souls, being told this ! Surprise 
and amazement took possession of the multitudes. They 
thought that the Popes were mercenary ; but they had 
never been told that they were hypocrites. Zwingli was 
not to stay at that charge even. He went on : “ The Pope 
says he has power on earth to forgive sins, and so binds 
God to Rome and Romish sanctuaries. Men must come to 
the holy places and bring money in enormous quantities, to 
enrich them. And in just such places are more unworthi- 
ness and vice than elsewhere. He who ascribes to man the 
power to forgive sins blasphemes God. Great evils have 
sprung up from this source. So that some whose eyes have 
been blinded by the Pope, have fancied that their sins were 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


21 ^ 


forgiven by sinful men. Thus God has been hidden from 
them. We do not dishonor the Virgin Mary when we teach 
that she ought not to be worshiped ; but we dishonor her, 
indeed, when we ascribe to her the majesty of God. She 
would not suffer such idolatry if she could speak to us.” 

A FATAL BLOW TO THE PAPACY. 

The people were both surprised and indignant; yet 
the argument had appealed to their common reason, 
and kept as they had been in ignorance, they felt that the 
dreadful charges were altogether true. The seed was 
planted, and nothing could pluck it out. The die was 
cast, and there was no power could recover the loss to the 
Papacy. 

Yet from the money brought by these pilgrims Zwingli 
had his income, and he knew the sacrifice his position would 
cost him. His conscience led him, and he was ready to 
take the consequences falling to any course of duty. 

Thousands returned home, and declared what they had 
heard at Einsieden. ‘‘Christ saves alone, and he saves 
everywhere,” was one Zwinglian sentence that lingered in 
their hearts, and had settled in their convictions. All of 
this from one sermon, preached by a man whose heart was 
on fire for God and native land. The preachers of Ameri- 
ca might take many an inspiration from the patriotic ser- 
mons of the Swiss reformer. He neither considered his liv- 
ing, his comfort, nor his safety. 

ANOTHER MIGHTY SERMON. 

Another great sermon preached by Zwingli was upon 
the sale of indulgences. So extensively had this business of 
selling diplomas for the forgiveness of sin been carried on 


220 


THE nOMAN PAPACY. 


in Switzerland, that when the Papal agent faced southward 
for Rome, he hauled away a cart load of coin, which re- 
quired three horses to draw. The extent of the evil was 
beyond our comprehension. Public and private institutions 
were made bankrupt by the base scheme. Zwingli waited 
until he saw that the better instincts of his countrymen 
could be aroused, and then he preached. And such a ser- 
mon! It was heard from London to Prague, and from 
Constance to Rome. All Europe was talking about it with- 
in three months. There was a seething torrent of feeling 
within him as he preached, and his voice fell persuasive 
and powerful from the pulpit. There was no doubt as to 
his meaning. Here is a section of this famous sermon : 

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has said, ‘Come unto me 
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest.’ Is it not audacious folly and shameless impudence 
for a man to say, ‘ buy a ticket of absolution — give money 
to the monks — make sacrifices to the priests, and I pro- 
nounce you free from sin V Can your gifts save you ? No. 
Jesus Christ is the only sacrifice, the only gift, the only 
way. Those who sell the remission of sin for money, are 
the companions of Simon the magician, the friends of Ba- 
laam, the ambassadors of Satan.” He trusted to the truth 
to awaken and make free. When he was cautioned to be 
moderate he exclaimed ; “The whole Papacy rests on a 
bad foundation.” He returned four times to the charge : 
“By God’s help I mean to preach the Gospel, and that will 
shake Rome.” This shepherd’s son knew how to blow up- 
on the Alpine horn such a blast as would be heard by the 
faithful flocks under his leadership. 

Zwingli was a born leader of men and measures. He was 
a man of warm heartedness and popular sympathies. He 
had to conteud with none of those sad experiences of child- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


221 


hood and youth, which fell to the lot of Luther. He was 
light hearted and joyous, without any doleful vein of char- 
acter to drive him to the convent, and make him wretched 
there. 

THE POWER OF PATRIOTIC HYMNS. 

The mighty Protestant preacher of Switzerland was great 
in popular and patriotic music. He could make the Alpine 
gorges ring wild and full with the old Swiss songs of free- 
dom and patriotism. He consecrated this power of song to 
the Gospel, and wrought into the melody of sacred poetry 
some of the loftiest thoughts of Scripture. While stretched 
upon a bed of sickness, which it was feared would lead to 
death, he poured forth his soul in the following hymn- 
prayer : 

“ Lord, hear my anxious pleading, 

O, help me in this strait ; 

Upon my door is knocking. 

The doleful hand of death. 

Thou, Lord, for him in conflict 
The might of mercy hast ; 

Stay, Christ, O ! stay beside me, 

And help me to the last. 

“ Thou art, O Lord, my Maker, 

And I thy creature am. 

As clay in hand of potter 
I’m fashioned by thy hand. 

At length in holy stillness 
My soul with thee shall rest, 

Thy will shall be my pleasure. 

Be it in life or death.” 

This hymn was a great favorite in Switzerland, as was 
Luther’s Mn Feste Burg^^^ in Germany. Great leaders 


222 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


of God have often been eminent in sacred music. There 
are David, and his Hebrew Psalms ; Ambrose, and his Lat- 
in hozanas ; Luther, and his German songs ; Zinzendorf, 
and his missionary hymns ; Wesley, and his English hal- 
leluiahs. And all these popular hymns are conducive of 
patriotism. W e should cherish gratefully the gospel in lofty 
melody and song. 

THE HEED OF PATEIOTIC SOHGS. 

Patriotic songs and Christian hymns are very near akin. 
In the old Hebrew chants the worship of God, and love 
for the Palestine hills and rivers, flow as one melody. 
Our patriotism should be sobered, toned and beautifled by 
lofty sentiments of religious melodies. The great battle- 
hymns of patriotic armies have been half religious. The 
Piedmontese, the English Puritans and the Scotch Cove- 
nanters went to meet their foe with David’s martial Psalms 
breaking from their ranks. Heligious fervor has a legiti- 
mate place in x)atriotism. There can be no true patriotism 
without religion. There is no conserving love for country 
where there is no religion. France shows much of the pre- 
tentious in patroitism, without a corresponding seriousness 
in devotion to country ; but this lack would be met if the 
religious elements were strengthened in national life. The 
great classic hymns of English patriotism breathe lofty re- 
ligious sentiments, which dignify them, and unite love of 
country to love of God. The best beloved, most beautiful 
and highly flnished of our national hymns are aglow with 
underlying religious interests. The God of nations must 
have our country in his divine care. Our devotion to coun- 
try must be accompanied with dependence upon God. This 
should be so kept in mind, that the line of demarkation be- 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


223 


tween patriotic songs and religious hymns may become less 
marked. 


POLITICAL REFORM A PATRIOTIC WORK. 

The awakening in Switzerland, under Zwingli, was a 
work of patriotism, as well as of religious reformation. 
Zwingli was a model patriot. The Pope flattered him with 
an annual gift to purchase books. But when he began to 
suspect that it might be an attempt to win him to the Papal 
intention, to crush out the independence of the Swiss Can- 
tons, he told the Papal agents, in clear and express terms, 
that they must not fancy, that for their money he would 
withhold one iota of the truth ; so they might take back, or 
give, as they pleased. 

When chaplain in the army, he often addressed his coun- 
trymen in arms on devotion to country and allegiance to 
the cause of liberty, justice and independence. Patriotism 
was a natural instinct to the people of the thirteen small re- 
publics of Switzerland. Living in the very citadels of the 
Alps, along the slopes of the inaccessible ihountains, and 
upon the shores of lakes which had no name in history, 
they were being prepared for centuries, by God and their 
natural environs, to be ready, in the fulness of the right 
time, to follow a prepared leader. Zwingli arose, a pre- 
pared patriot, to lead prepared patriots to liberty and in- 
dependence. Germany did not dispatch her own Reforma- 
tion over into Switzerland. The brave Swiss began their own 
Reformation, on their own volition, out of their own native 
spirit of freedom, and under their inherited sense of Swiss 
rights and liberties, the traditions of which had been pre- 
served through the centuries, during which Rome had been 
growing in oppressive measures. 


224 


THE ROMAN RAP ACT, 


HOW LIBEETY AHD EDUCATION WERE LOST. 

Botli liberty and education bad once bad a borne in those 
Swiss Cantons north of the Rhone. And along with broad 
ideas of civil and religious liberty, and a high general stand- 
ard of education there prevailed a deep and reverent piety. 
This high grade of public intelligence, with personal and 
political morals, was not a child of the Papacy. Nor was 
Rome in any sense a patron of this favorable social order. 
It was a ripened fruit, before the Papal rule entered the 
Alps to destroy the tree that bore it. But by the time of 
Zwingli, this fruit had lost its flavor and soundness, through 
the poison of the Papal policy. 

IRELAND OHCE A GREAT PEOPLE. 

How came northern Switzerland in possession of her early 
liberties and intelligence % In the very morning of European 
civilization, Ireland had a pure religion and a broad edu- 
cation. Christianity was not of Papal introduction in Ire- 
land. It came by way of Britain, from Asia Minor, and 
was not originally of the Romish brand. It early developed 
a vital energy in the intelligence of the early Irish tribes. 
With the conversion of the people from the strange Druid 
religion, came a remarkable mental awakening. Schools 
were general, and high in quality. Science, letters and elo- 
quence chiefly characterized the education of the Irish 
Christian education, up to the centre of the Middle Ages. 
The Christian preachers issuing from these schools, spread 
over Europe, and became a great power in Germany, France 
and Switzerland. These missionaries, learned in letters, in 
the sciences, and wonderfully florid in their eloquence, were 
free to move about as they pleased, being subject to no 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


225 


Papal system. They became famed for the most persuasive 
eloquence. In Switzerland they excited a great influence, 
established schools, encouraged education, preached a pure 
Gospel, and mightily conserved the cause of religion and 
freedom among the people. ^ 

As the Middle Ages fell upon Europe, the Papacy en- 
croached more and more upon these little isolated races, 
among the mountains of central Europe. Like a web, 
Komish errors, deceptions and frauds were thrown about 
the religious services, and slowly the nightmare grew dense, 
and Switzerland, like all the other nations, was enslaved. 

ZwiDgli had caught the spirit of the Peformation hope. 
What he now contended for, was a return to the freedom, 
piety, independence and intelligence, the land had once en« 
joyed. He inquired profoundly into the causes which led 
his country to forsake those better times. He discovered 
that the superstitions and tyrannies of the Papal rule were 
mostly to be charged with forcing his country into that de- 
parture from a former state of intelligence, and the enjoy- 
ment of civil rights. 

SWITZEELAT^D A VASSAL OF HOME. 


This discovery of the political corruption of the Papacy, 
acted upon Zwingli much as Luther was affected in Rome 
by his discovery of unblushing moral corruption of the 
Papal system. Because of the nature of his discovery, 
Luther became mostly a religious reformer ; and because of 
the nature of his discovery, Zwingli became the great politi- 
cal reformer of his country. His beloved land had become 
the vassal of Rome, and he demanded a deliverance. The 
way in which he led in the proposed political and moral re- 


226 


THE ROMAN PAP ACT. 


forms, witnessed to his valor and power as a leader. All 
appeals for justice and right, made to bishop or Pope, were 
as useless then, as now, and Zwingli lost no time in such 
fruitless proceedings. He looked to the people to deliver 
themselves, under his leadership, and the favor of God. 

AN ABOMINABLE EVIL. 

He began with those reforms which would conduce to 
higher patriotism, morals and intelligence. He persuaded 
the Canton of Zurich to oppose the Pope in hiring Swiss 
soldiers. For a long while the Popes had been fighting 
their wars by aid of the Swiss mercenaries, who were in- 
duced, for pay, offers of bounty and favors in purgatory, 
to fight simply at the call of the Popes, and without regard 
to issues involved. This was exceedingly degrading and 
brutalizing, while it had the effect of greatly awakening the 
ability of the Swiss to meet any foe. In opposition, Zurich 
took the lead, other Cantons followed, and the northern 
section of Switzerland asserted its rights over its own citi- 
zens, against the bribery of the Pope’ s agents. 

This abominable evil was broken up none too soon. The 
Homan Catholic Cardinal Schinner had offered the hardy 
mountaineers to the king of France, who was engaged in a 
broil with the Pope. When the king declined, because of 
the high price the cardinal required, Schinner opened over- 
tures with Pope Julius II., who paid him his price. In a 
little while he had the whole country round about in the 
mercenary service of the Pope. The opposition of Zwingli 
made the cardinal furious. The confiict had come, and the 
people stood with Zwingli. 

Zwingli then began a crusade against the celibate priest- 
hood, and soon led Zurich to favor the marriage of the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


227 


priests. He became assured that the Bible nowhere forbade 
the marriage of ministers. He called a conference of min- 
isters, who approved of his views! A petition was sent to 
the higher Church authorities. The opposition against the 
reformer increased to such an extent, that he soon found 
that he was conducting a large part of the country away 
from the Papal Church. The civil authorities took sides 
with him because of the way he championed the cause of 
liberty ; at the same time the people found they were with 
him, as against the cardinal and Pope, because of his elo- 
quent gospel sermons, which led them to see how the whole 
Papal system was unscriptural and hateful. Zwingli won 
the hearts of his countrymen to such a degree that every- 
thing Papal became exceedingly obnoxious. 

AN OLD TRICK OF THE POPES. 

The Pope tried his old trick— still frequently resorted to 
— to place Zwingli under such obligations to the Court of 
Home, that he could not violently assail the Papal institu- 
tions. He was appointed to the honorable place of Acolyte, 
chaplain of the Papal chair. The missive of investure read : 
‘‘Distinguished by his virtues and great merits, he deserves, 
in the eyes of the Pope, and the holy Apostolic chair, a 
recognition of his great learning, and some distinguished 
mark of paternal approbation.’’ He was encouraged to ex- 
pect still greater and higher honors. Zwingli was not to be 
bribed. He declined to longer use the small stipend alloted 
to him for the purchase of books. 

He asked for reform in the Church, not honors for him- 
self ; he pleaded for liberties for his country, not fulsome 
praise for himself. He appealed to the bishop of Constance 
to stay the trend of terrible corruption in the Church. The 


228 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


bishop of Constance cared no more than the cardinal for 
reforms, and tore np his letter with the remark : ‘ ‘ Convent 
preachers are not my advisers. When the holy father 
orders a reform, it will be time enough to begin it.’’ But 
the Pope was not thinking about reforms. Yery few of 
the Popes can be called reformers in any broad sense. 

LAZY NUNS AND MONKS. 

As his hope for reform from within the Church grew 
faint, he turned more and more to the people, and sought 
to lead them to correct some of the Papal abuses and cor- 
ruptions, by civil action. The convents and monasteries, 
as in most countries, harbored many and gross abuses. 
Both nuns and monks were ignorant and lazy, and in many 
cases immoral. These institutions were, in many instances, 
confiscated school properties, once under the patronage of 
the civil functions, and which had afforded most excellent 
facilities for the education of the youth of the country. 
But this was before the Papal aggrandizement had been so 
complete. Zwingli urged that these places be converted in- 
to homes for the poor and school houses. The Papacy was 
practically turned adrift in this work of restoring the con- 
vents to. honorable service for the country. The Church, 
under the reformer, in the northern Cantons, was becoming 
independent. 

EELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL EEFORMS GO TOGETHER. 

The great Swiss patriot was the first to see that the re- 
ligious and political reformation must advance together. 
France and Holland followed in the same line, and Scotland 
to some extent. In the Swiss Canton there was no feudal 
lord, but the people governed themselves, except so far as 
they had allowed themselves to be duped to surrender their 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


229 


rights to the ecclesiastical authorities. Zwingli declared 
his great desire to promote the liberties of the people. The 
people were with him. 

A diet, or conference, was called at Lucerne in 1522, con- 
stituted of the Papal adherents. It organized an active 
persecution against the Zurich pastors, who were preaching 
the truth. Two years later one of the most patriotic of the 
reformers, Nicholas Hottinger, was condemned to death, 
and beheaded, for tearing down an image which stood by 
the highway. Three others soon met the same fate, and 
the fires of persecution fiercely burned. The Cantons of 
Zurich and Berne stood together, while the Papal Cantons 
sought help of Austria, and began to recruit an army. 

The two armies confronted each other at Cappel. The 
Papal forces had great fear they would prove too weak for 
the brave patriots, and a treaty was patched up. Accord- 
ing to this agreement, it was established that religious 
liberty should be granted throughout the confederacy; that 
the images should be left to local choice, and that the five 
Papal Cantons, which had opened the overt act of war, 
should pay the expense. 

PAPAL TREATIES ARE A PAPAL RUSE. 

This peace of Cappel was a Papal ruse to gain time. The 
preparations for war went on quietly, but rapidly. All 
compromises proposed by the Bomish authorities have al- 
ways turned out just so. In a short while the news was 
hurriedly brought to the Protestants of Zurich, that the 
standard of war had been raised in Lucerne, and that the 
forces of the Papal Cantons were rapidly assembling. The 
brave, but unprepared, men of Zurich hurried forward. The 
two contending armies met for the second time at Cappel. 
Zwingli was soon struck down with a stone, while he 


230 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


was stooping to comfort a fallen Zuricher. As he arose he 
received a stroke from a spear. His body was quartered, 
burned in the flames, his ashes mixed with ashes of swine, 
and flung to the winds of the mountains. Twenty Protest- 
ant pastors fell in the battle. 

A flnal peace was arranged, by the terms of which it was 
agreed : ‘‘ The Eeformation shall be guaranteed in Zurich, 
and all the immediate dependencies, as well as in other 
places where it has been received ; yet all those who may 
wish to return to the mass, or to prove by a new vote which 
is the prevailing party, shall be at liberty to do so. Church 
property was to be divided according to the census.” 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A ROMAN CATHOLIC AND PROTEST- 
ANT COMMUNITY. 

Lower, or French Switzerland, was too tightly held in the 
Papal arms, and did not cut loose from the slavish forms of 
Popish feudalism until the seventeenth century. In the 
meantime, northern, or Grerman Switzerland enjoyed all 
the sweets of their deliverance from bondage. Even to this 
day there is a vast difference between the lower, or Homan 
Catholic Cantons, and the upper, or Protestant Cantons. 
Papacy has held back the liberty and intelligence of the 
former, and as well has darkened the home and impeded gen- 
eral progress. The Roman Catholic part of Switzerland is a 
full half century behind the Protestant part of the country. 

The solemn evidence is in from every land, and it is 
strong, that intellectual and political freedom has found an 
unrelenting foe in the Papal Church. 

Liberty has had many a sitting with the Roman Papacy, 
and at every such interchange of relations liberty has 
found that the Papacy has wanted to screen her eyes, belt 
her heart and shackle her hands. 


PAPAL FRANCE OR FREE AMERICA! 


‘'But France got drunk with blood to vomit crime, 

And fatal have her saturnalia been 
To freedom’s cause, in every age and clime.; 

Because the deadly days which we have seen. 

And vile ambition, that built up between 
Man and his hopes an abomination wall. 

And the base pageant last upon the scene. 

Are grown the pretext for the eternal thrall 
Which nips life’s tree, and dooms man’s worst — his 
second fall. 

“Yet, Freedom ! yet thy banner torn, but flying. 

Streams like the thunder-storm against the wind ; 

Thy trumpet voice, though broken now and dying, 

The loudest still the tempest leaves behind ; 

Thy tree hath lost its blossoms, and the rind. 

Chopped by the axe, looks rough and little worth ; 

But the sap lasts, and still the seed we find. 

Sown deep in the bosom of Patriotism’s soil; 

So shall a better spring less bitter fruit bring forth.” 


Does the Roman Catholic 
Church favor liberty ? 

I can speak from my own experience in Italy. When we 
preached for liberty and freedom, we were oppressed and 
enslaved by the priesthood. My penitents were forbidden 
to come to hear me, or to hear my poor friend Bassi, who 
was shot by the Austrians at Bologna. 


Gavazzi. 


PART VII. 


THE UNEQUAL CONFLICT IN FRANCE— PLOTS AND 
CONSPIRACIES OF THE PAPACY TO CRUSH 
CONSCIENCE AND RIGHT. 

France lost the opportunity of the centuries, when she 
declined to take her place in the ranks of the great Protest- 
ant nations, which in the sixteenth century took up the 
forward march of human progress with impressive earnest- 
ness and captivating enthusiasm. It is a sorry spectacle to 
contemj)late. A choice is made which swings her civiliza- 
tion about into a counter-march, and France lies crushed 
and bleeding beneath the heel of a despicable foreign 
system. 

France once occupied a proud and a great station among 
the nations of the world. Science and philosophy, litera- 
ture and quaint music, had distinguished the people. It 
was one of the first of the western countries to show a tend- 
ency for centralization and representation in government. 
It was a consolidated empire, with mighty feudal lords, 
confederated together and acknowledging the centralized 
power and authority of the throne, when Germany had not 
yet given any sign of nationality. England was not so 
powerful, nor Spain so advanced. France was mistress, 

( 233 ) 


234 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


and though already crippled by her One Hundred Years’ 
war with England, she entered the sixteenth century, with 
an opportunity standing by, ready to make her great among 
the greatest, if not greatest of all the great nations of 
Europe. But in the evolutions of life and thought then at 
work in Europe, liberty of conscience, and the untrammeled 
rights of investigation, were to perform a most important 
function. But the throne of France, when it was already 
bathed in the glow of the new light, chose to sit in the 
darkness of the Middle Ages, at the bidding of the Papal 
powers, which loved darkness rather than light. By the 
time Prance got through persecuting, deceiving, calumniat- 
ing, banishing and killing the Huguenots, civilization had 
gone far in advance of France, and she had to submit to one 
humiliation after another, conscious that she was being 
left far in the rear, among the great nations of the world. 

The cause for all this is apparent, if conditions are con- 
sidered in their relation to liberty, independence and justice. 
France came near being a great Protestant nation, and just 
missed a rare chance of reaching the highest point of glory, 
and taking a position of lasting prominence amongst the 
powers of the world. In the sixteenth century. Prance had 
one high, precious, unusual opportunity, the like of which 
has not come to her since, and may not again for five hun- 
dred years. 

THE WOHDEEFUL SIXTEENTH CENTUKY. 

The sixteenth century ! It was a period, in many partic- 
ulars, valuable to progress beyond our own century. Ours 
is a period of discovery, experiment, and success most won- 
derful in the material sciences, while in political evolutions 
it is great and far-reaching. The sixteenth century was 
great in its spirit of earnestness, soul motives, and a certain 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


235 


chivalric display of moral grandeur. It was not an age of 
inventions, mechanical appliances and sordid money 
schemes ; but it was an age of ideas, seething, blazing, fer- 
menting, burning, if you will, right into the living thought 
of the day, and forcing their right of way through the con- 
victions of earnest men, into the logical principles of justice 
and liberty, and stood at the door of government and law, 
and thundered their claim upon the attention of thrones 
and parliaments, and waited, not always patiently, either, 
to be invited in, and asked to take up their permanent 
abode. And these ideas possessed the assurance that they 
would greatly advance the nation, and develop a lofty type 
of human character. 

In France the feudal system was very rapidly disintegrat- 
ing. Temporal authority was passing more into the con- 
trol of the crown. As the feudal lords lost in the civil 
regime, the feudal idea seemed to be taken up by the 
ecclesiastical authorities. The bishops were the ecclesiasti- 
cal feudal lords of the sixteenth century in France, and 
their episcopal residences were like feudal castles, each of 
which had its retainers. The ranks of the higher clergy 
were not unfrequently replenished from the feudal lords, 
who had lost, or were losing, their hold upon temporal juris- 
diction. They found ecclesiastical sovereignty just as 
satisfactory to their ambition, as rule under the form of a 
temporal princedom, and far easier to maintain, owing to 
the central power of the Pope. So instead of having a 
feudal system, with the lord more or less supreme in tem- 
poral affairs, we have a feudal ecclesiastical system, with 
the ecclesiastical feudal lords exercising a sovereignty in. 
the temporal affairs jointly with the throne, and both sub- 
ject to the Pope. 


236 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


However, many of the old feudal families, by virtue 
of more worth of character and sterling sense of honor, 
held aloof from the move toward an ecclesiastical feudalism. 
They constituted the very flower of the French nobility. 
These independent barons, as a rule, became chiefs in the 
Protestant or Huguenot party. 

THE POPES AFTER THE PURSES OF THE PEOPLE MORE THAN" 
THEIR HEARTS. 

As in all the other countries, so in France, the rule of the 
Popes become more hateful, as the money demands increase. 
The Popes from the thirteenth century on, were after the 
purses quite as much as the hearts of the people. An in- 
vestigation by Parliament, in the fifteenth century, dis- 
closed the fact that in the three years of the Pontificate of 
Pius II. (1461 — 1464), Rome drew from France, for posi- 
tions in vacant archbishoprics, bishoprics and abbeys — 
which were sold often to the highest bidder, — not less than 
240,000 crowns, and 100,000 crowns for priories and dean- 
eries, and the stupendous sum of 1,500,000 crowns from ap- 
plicants for merely being placed in the list of expectants, 
awaiting their turn and chance, and who beggared on their 
friends and the community, while waiting for some ecclesi- 
astical station to become vacant. Instances were familiar 
where ten and twelve contestants came forward for a vacant 
position, each and every one presenting a written statement 
from the Pope, that he was to have that particular bishop- 
ric, deanery or priory, as the case might be. Others would 
appear who had paid a larger sum to the Pope, presenting 
Pontifical documents annulling those previously given by 
the same Pope. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


237 


SCHEME OF POPE AND KING. 

The narrow liberties enjoyed by the people were still 
further abridged by the celebrated conference of King 
Francis 1. and Pope Leo. X., at Bologna, in 1515. The 
agreement arrived at resulted in a complete sacrifice of the 
rights of both Church and State to the Pope and king, who 
had agreed to divide between them the trophies of their 
unseemly spoliation. Later, in the cathedral at Bologna, 
the king ratified this Papal treaty. Telling its iniquity, he 
said to Dupret, the chancellor : “ There is enough in this to 
damn us both.” But what of that to him? He was after 
money and the Pope’s alliance. He was a Roman Catholic 
king. By this agreement, concordat it was called, the 
selection of persons to fill vacant archbishoprics, bishoprics, 
abbeys and monastic institutions of all kinds, was vested in 
the king, whose appointments were to be confirmed or re- 
jected, by the Pope. All revenues were to be divided be- 
tween king and Pope. Parliament declined to ratify the 
most abusive measure. Francis declared he would not, 
“for half of his kingdom, fail of his word to the Pope, and 
if parliament refused he would find means to make it re- 
pent of its obstinacy.” After keeping up the fight nearly 
three years, parliament surrendered to the Papal king, who 
was backed by the Pope. The entire control of the French 
Church was now in the hands of the king and the Pope. 
And the king was only a go-between, acting for the Pope. 
In the reign of Louis XY., that king had at his disposal 18 
archbishoprics, 112 bishoprics, 1,666 abbeys, and 317 nun- 
neries. The original method of the French Church, was for 
the clergy in each department to agree upon their superior 
ecclesiastics, and those designated were confirmed by the 
Pope. This was intruded upon by the custom of Popes in 


S38 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


giving written promises to appoint, without reference to 
the will of the Church. The concordat at Bologna was a 
ratification of this iniquity. And so the liberties of the 
French were despoiled by the tyranny and rapacity of the 
French throne and the court of Rome. The king sent the 
first year’s incomes of all ecclesiastics to the Pope. In ad- 
dition, the Pope had frequent other revenues. In 1518 the 
king paid the Pope 100, 000 francs as a part of a dower gift, 
upon the marriage of Madeleine, of Auvergue, and Lorenzo 
deMedicis, the Pope’s nephew. From this union sprang 
Catherine de Medicis. Leo authorized this money to be 
levied upon the revenues of the French clergy. The clergy 
in turn had to get this money from the people. So every 
new demand of Papal wrong and corruption fell at last up- 
on the people. 

EXTENT OF THE WOKSHIP OF KELICS AND IMA&ES. 

The relic, image and saint worship tell the degree of ig- 
norance by which the common people were held in subjec- 
tion to the Papal Church. These treasures were found in 
thousands of churches, cathedrals and convents. In one it 
was the hair of the Virgin ; in another the sword of the 
archangel Michsel ; in another the body of St. Dionysius, 
though a century before the Pope had issued a solemn bull 
that the body of this saint was at Ratisbon, Bavaria. At 
Lyons they had the twelve combs of the Apostles, while at 
Geneva, the pilgrims, it was discovered, were adoring a 
bone of a deer for the arm of St. Anthony. In one place 
a lump of pumice was palmed off for the brain of St. Peter. 
There were 20,000 or 30,000 abbeys and more than 40,000 
convents in France, and in many of them could be found the 
nails which were taken from the hands and feet of Christ, 
and the spear which had pierced his side had multiplied 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


239 


into several, while the solitary napkin about his head had 
grown into a multitude. 

These things furnished a lucrative means of wealth to the 
higher clergy, which, according to a Venetian ambassador, 
had a revenue which amounted to two-thirds of the whole 
income of the kingdom. Luxury and vice grew up in the 
lap of wealth. Haton, the Roman Catholic curate of Meriot, 
declared that the archbishops and bishops administered the 
ecclesiastical affairs, ‘ ‘ with a view to the promotion of 
their pleasure.” Soranzo, a Yenetian Roman Catholic au- 
thority, testified that men were placed in charge of the 
churches, who had devoted themselves to avarice and dis- 
soluteness of life. According to Brantome, the monks lived 
in undisguised debauchery. A single passage shows his 
testimony: “ Generally the monks elected the most jovial 
companion, him who was the most fond of women, dogs 
and birds, the deepest drinker ; in a word, the most dissi- 
pated ; and this in order that, when they had made him 
abbot or prior, they might be permitted to indulge in simi- 
lar debauch and pleasure. ” “As idle as a priest or monk, ’ ’ 
and “as avaricious and lewd as a priest or monk,” were 
Prench proverbs in the first half of the sixteenth century. 

The teachers of theology 'were as ignorant of the Scrip- 
tures, as the monks were dissolute. One of the faculty of 
the University of Paris was in the habit of saying, that he 
was amazed at the way in which the students brought up 
the New Testament, for he was more than fifty years old 
before he knew anything about the New Testament. 

PAPAL FORCES WHICH RUIN. 

Here was a condition of society in which all the elements, 
which work for ruin of country, were present — ignorance, 
superstition, hypocrisy, deception, fraud, vice, tyranny,, 


240 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


and a persistent plan to keep back, and down, that first right 
of liberty, the privilege to investigate its own status. In 
that necessity for reform was the first cause of the Reforma- 
tion in France. The French Reformation grew up on French 
soil. It was a native growth, having its birth in French 
territory. Bohemia’s Reformation was largely indebted to 
English influences, as was that of Scotland, while Holland’s 
altar fires were kindled from both German and French 
sources. Hot so the Reformation in France. The ex- 
tremity of the Papal enormities was confronted by the light 
of the Bible, shining in the hearts of the early French re- 
formers. 

SOME GEEAT EEFOEMEES. 

The fight which France had with Rome is not to be un- 
derstood, without a look at the early champions of liberty 
and rights of conscience. There was Le Fevre. His train- 
ing had been stupid and narrow, yet he had a remarkably 
fertile mind and honest heart, and he hailed with delight 
the news of better things in other lands. He became a great 
scholar in the sciences and in the Bible. He takes up the 
Psalms, then the Romans, and writes about these portions 
of the Scripture in a way to attract the most learned men. 
In 1523 he translated the Hew Testament into the French. 
Five years later he did the same with the Old Testament. 
These French Bibles no sooner left the press than they were 
eagerly taken, and soon found their way into every hamlet. 
Some of the priests, who had not been corrupted, aided in 
their circulation. The spread of the Scriptures made certain 
a break from Rome. 

There was Farel, pupil of Le Fevre. He long kept the 
Papacy entrenched in his heart. When he saw the whole 
Papal system was an abomination, he turned in a fiery zeal 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


241 


to preaching the Gospel, and condemning the E-omish 
Church. He was of larger service in Switzerland than in 
his native land. 

There was Briconnet, bishop of Meaux. While on a 
diplomatic mission, for his king, to the court of the Pope, 
he became convinced there should be a reform. He became 
the protector of Le Fevre and other reformers in his diocese. 
He ordered images and relics out of his churches, and com- 
mended to his people the Gospel preachers. 

And last, and greatest of all, there was John Calvin, who, 
when driven from France, wrote his treatise on doctrines, 
and by the aid of his followers in France extensively cir- 
culated the most powerful documents yet produced in tha 
French Eeformation. 

THKEE POWEEFUL PAPAL FAMILIES. 

As the movement grew, it was evident that Papal rule, 
and in truth, despotic government, whether ecclesiastical or 
secular, would be limited. Persecution grew with the 
growth of the Reformation. Strong combinations worked 
as one force, for the suppression of the growing spirit of 
civil and religious liberties. Against the reform leaders 
were organized the most powerful families in France. The 
princes of the House of Yalois, the Guise-Lorraine, and 
the Medicis families, constituted the most powerful Papal 
combination to be found in any country. And while they 
entertained distinct family ambitions and pursued such 
schemes as they could to advance their respective families, 
yet they usually held together on the Papal question, and 
especially when it came to persecution. The Cardinal of 
Lorraine, with his brother, the Duke of Guise, were the 
leaders of the Roman Catholic party against the Huguenots, 


242 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


and the Protestants of Scotland and England. Men of am- 
bition become a menance to the best interests of any coun- 
try when they can be seduced into the service of the Pope. 
The Paj)acy is always ready to bribe, and prepared to aid 
those who will do the Papal bidding. We find relocated 
illustrations of this in the careers of unprincipled American 
politicians. 

A NEW PHASE OF DEBAUCHEEY. 

In France, the Reformation found a powerful opposition, 
not before encountered, as a high social antagonism. This 
was immorality. Debauchery was in France under the pro 
tection of the court, as in no other country. Francis I. 
and Catherine de Medicis promoted it until it became a 
national trait. By the agreement of Pope and king at Bo- 
logna, the appointment of the higher ecclesiastics was large- 
ly left to the throne. Francis conferred bishoprics upon 
the solicitation of the corrupt court women. Dupret was 
elevated to the chancellorship of the kingdom, through the 
influence of Catherine, and because he was a favorite with 
the licentious women of the court. When debauchery and 
tyranny met to thwart the political and religious reforms 
of the country, the most bitter persecution was natural. 

RISE OF THE JESUITS IN FRANCE. 

But still another element contributed to the character 
and degree of Papal persecution in France. This period 
was in the hey-day strength of the Jesuit order, and France 
was their favorite country. Through the king, the Cardi- 
nal of Lorraine and the Pope, they became settled in the 
country, notwithstanding the most united opposition of 
the archbishop of Paris, the University, and the clergy, for 
the local bishops have always and everywhere feared the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


243 


J esuits. The influence of Catherine was called in, and the 
matter of adjusting with the Jesuits was referred to the 
Council of Trent. Before this great Council they accepted the 
conditions of admission. Yiz. , they took solemn oath not to 
disturb the liberties of the French Church, to conform to all 
the laws of the nation, which stipulated that the Pope had 
no right to any jurisdiction in temporal matters, and that no 
Papal nuncios should be sent without the approval of the 
throne, and that the court of last resort lay, not in the Pope, 
but in a general council. When they took this oath they 
had not the least intention of respecting it. 

The proof is most conclusive of the collusion between 
Catherine and the Jesuits. They were no sooner admitted, 
than they plunged at once into the execution of the con- 
spiracy, to not only destroy the Huguenots, but as well 
dictate to the French nation their own terms. There can 
. be no understanding of the immediate causes which led to 
the massacre of St. Bartholmew, which does not take into 
consideration the Jesuit-Catherine-Lorraine combination 
with the Pope. 

GIBBONS-SATOLLI-LEO XIII. COMBINATION. 

Equally true is it, that there can be no clear understand- 
ing of the disgraceful disregard for law in the United 
States during the last five years, in city, state and national 
affairs of government, without an intelligent consideration 
of the Corrigan-Giibbons-Satolli-Leo XIII. combination. 

THE POPE BBIBES THE SOLDIERY. 

Another great provocation in France was the mercenary 
soldiery of the Pope. He had 8,000 of them in his employ. 
They were promised absolution of sin, and other induce- 


244 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


ments where held out which were never met. By this shame- 
ful bribery the Pope opened the door for some of the most 
blistering evils of war in Italy and Switzerland, and most 
of all, in France. 

But in spite of all, by the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
tury the Protestants were a powerful party in France. In 
some of the provinces they outnumbered the Homan Cath- 
olics. Perhaps one-third of the population of the whole 
country were in sympathy with the advanced views as to 
religion, liberty and tolerance. They should have taken to, 
and kept the high road of triumph. They had a large 
number of the popular leaders among the nobility with 
them. There were some five hundred Huguenot leaders 
among the nobles of the day of St. Bartholomew. The he- 
roic element of the nation was found in the ranks of the 
Huguenots. They had the moral support of England and 
Germany, and the sympathy of a large party in Holland 
and Scotland. Withal they had right, and the power of 
heaven, on their side. 

WHAT THE FEETTCH LEADERS LACKED. 

The one thing which seemed to lack, was a want of the 
completeness of courage. Great reformers and sterling 
military leaders the cause had. There were brave men, but 
the leaders seemed to fail in those elements which we find 
in Luther, Orange and Knox. Some of the leading men did 
not see the full depths of Papal depravity, and were con- 
sequently trapped. Such a man was Coligny, the great 
and heroic admiral of the kingdom ; others were over- 
whelmed with a sense of Home’s power to crush and kill. 
Such was Bishop Briconnet, of Meaux. He at first gave 
promise to be a very Luther in assailing Papal corruptions 


THE ROMAN PAPACY: 


245 


and in circulating the Scriptures. But the University at 
Paris induced the Parliament, now Papal, to try him. At 
the same time the power of the Franciscan monks was 
thrown upon him. Through fear he soon turned back to 
his ecclesiastical vomit. And he condemned Luther and 
Le Fevre. He was fined two hundred livers, and returned 
to his diocese* to banish Farel, La Fevre and the reformed 
teachers. But the good the bishop had done lived on. 
The people having tasted the Word of God, refused to take 
to the Komish sop and stuff again. By such as these, the 
Reformation of the first part of the sixteenth century in 
France, made certain the terrible persecution of the mid- 
dle of the century. 

CALL FOR STALWART LEADERS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Courage or cowardice, O countrymen, which? An evil 
in Church and State in our day, is a painful lack of stal- 
wart courage in leaders. Convenience, ease, selfishness, 
are taken in as counselors ; while it is known, conditions 
are centralizing for a confiict which will be many fold worse 
than if it were met at once. 

PAPAL PLOTS AND ASSASSINATIONS THROUGH FOUR REIGNS. 

Plots, treachery, assassinations and bloody executions 
characterized the period extending through the reigns of 
Francis L, Henry II., Francis II. and Charles IX. Francis 
I. began the persecutions in the latter part of his reign ; and 
when he once surrendered wholly to the Papal spirit, he 
went the full sweep of Romish despotism and bigotry. 
The University of Paris had presented to the king a com- 
plaint against the freedom of the press. The king took up 
the cry, and sent to the Parliament, in 1535, an order abso- 


246 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


lately prohibiting, under pain of the halter, the pestilent 
art of printing, as it was termed. Francis, the Parliament 
and the Pope united in establishing a commission to super- 
vise the extermination of French liberties and Huguenot 
patriots. The bull of Pope Clement, apprising France of 
this commission, stipulated that these “Commissioners 
were further authorized to grant permission to any one of 
the faithful, who chose so to do, to invade, occupy and ac- 
quire for himself the lands, castles and goods of the here- 
tics, seizing their persons, and leading them away into life- 
long slavery. ’ ’ Such was the tyrannical spirit of Pope Clem- 
ent, the ecclesiastical despot, who instituted the most out- 
rageous enormities against the Huguenots. 

THE WOOL-CARDEE OF MEAUX. 

Jean Laclere, the wool-carder of Meaux, was among the 
first to feel the malice of persecution. Pope Clement’s 
bull, pertaining to indulgences, was posted on the cathe- 
dral door, and Laclere secretly took it down. He was ac- 
cused of this, and of reading LeFevre’s French Testament. 
The barbarous sentence was, that he be whipped in Paris 
on- three successive days, to receive the same punishment 
in Meaux, then to be branded on the forehead with a red- 
hot iron, and finally banished forever from the kingdom. 
All this was carried out, but it did not cool his devotion 
for the truth. Some time afterward at Metz he was still 
further persecuted by having hife right hand cut off at the 
wrist, his arms, nose and breast were cruelly torn with pinch- 
ers. His head was encircled with a red-hot band of iron, 
and as it burned its way into his very brain, his body was 
thrown into the fire. So perished one of the first disciples 
of religious liberty in France. 


THE MOMAH PAPACY. 


247 


The extreme violence of the Papal spirit is seen in the 
character of the torture performed upon the Huguenots. 
The Dominican De Roma plunged the feet of those deliv- 
ered to him into boots filled with melted fat, boiling over a 
slow fire. 

Just north of the Durana river lay a territory which held 
over a dozen villages, occupied with a thrifty, liberty-lov- 
ing, peaceful people. The principles of the Reformation 
had early had a welcome. The people were largely Wal- 
denses in faith, and many of them by blood. Here the 
fires of persecution broke out and swept with furious 
hate and bitterness. No words can describe the extent of 
degree of the dreadful ruin wrought upon these quiet 
French villages, because the inhabitants chose not to fol- 
low the Pope’ s will in matters of faith and practice. The 
immediate cause of the exterminating blow which fell up- 
on them, was their renewed interest and activity in circu- 
lating the Scriptures, which had always called forth the 
enmity of Rome. Many of these people were branded on 
the forehead, others were buried alive. All civil officials 
were prohibited from furnishing the accused copies of le- 
gal instruments, by which course they had withheld from 
them their most ordinary rights. 

DESOLATION AMONG FEEE VILLAGES. 

The local parliament summoned a large number of the in- 
habitants of Merindal before it. Because some did not 
come, it was ordered that “all the houses of Merindal be 
burned, and the trees cut down for a distance of two hun- 
dred paces on every side, in order that the spot which had 
been the receptacle of heresy might be forever uninhabited.’^ 
For a while this infamous order was frustrated by friendly 
interference. The Roman Catholics living amongst the ac- 


248 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


cused, declared tliey were an industrious, noble and humane 
people, deserving well of all. But two archbishops and 
Cardinal Tournow intrigued and bore false testimony, until 
the execution of the order was carried out. The town of 
Merindal was obliterated. Twenty-two towns and villages 
were utterly destroyed. Most of the men were slain, the 
women and children wandered about for weeks, homeless 
and starving. A frequent roadside sight was that of the 
bodies of mothers and their infants, life having been driven 
out by hunger and exposure. Cruelty incarnate is found 
in this war for extermination, carried on by the Roman 
Catholic cardinal and archbishops. A large number of 
women were thrust into a barn, and held imprisoned while 
the structure burned ; twenty-five persons, having fied to a 
cavern for refuge, were suffocated by a fire, purposely kin- 
dled at the mouth ; a great number of men were bound in 
couples, and escorted to the castle hall, where two captains 
of execution stood and slew them as they were driven past ; 
in one church eight hundred men, women and children were 
slain. 

A SHAMEFUL CHAPTER OF HORRORS. 

Such a shameful chapter of horrors cannot be found in 
the annals of the most savage people. An investigation 
found that these murdered people were guilty of no crime, 
plot or offense against the government, and that they had 
made no attempt against any of the legitimate institutions 
of the country. They were not found, in any instance, to 
have incited any civil insurrection. In this particular they 
were above reproach. The whole misdemeanor chargeable 
to them, was that they held religious opinions not satis- 
factory to the archbishops and the cardinal. This they 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


249 


thought was their right. But Rome does not recognize the 
inviolability of human rights, while she claims the authority 
to punish any exercise therein. 

CAN THE POPE PERMIT OUR FREE INSTITUTIONS ? 

A reflection here brings about a feeling of strange wonder. 
The Roman Catholic Church has recently, through high 
authority in this country, served notice that there has been 
no change in the spirit or doctrine of the Church. We not 
only observe it to be so, but we are told directly that the 
Roman Church in this country is not to show any more 
disposition to take kindly to liberty, tolerance, or any of 
the now generally accepted principles of personal and re- 
ligious rights, than she did three hundred years ago. This 
consideration is of prodigious weight in trying to under- 
stand and meet the Roman issues of the day in our coun- 
try. If a large and general power to administer affairs 
should fall under her control in this land, without any 
counter power to stay it, would this Church, could it con- 
sistently, permit the continuance of our free institutions? 
In the very nature of such a situation, the Papal Church 
must conspire against a certain class of civil laws and in- 
stitutions, and strive to subvert the spirit of our civilization, 
which is unrelentingly hostile to such Roman despotism. 

EVERY BONE BROKEN FOR SELLING BOOKS. 

The mere crime of peddling books in France was pun- 
ished in the most cruel manner. A purveyor of books, 
being placed on trial for that offense, was found guilty, and 
had every bone of his body dislocated, one after another. 


250 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


in the attempt of his tormentors to force from him the 
names of the persons to whom he had sold his books ; and 
then he was burned publicly in the city of Paris. 

Even religious songs were prohibited, in the endeavor to 
keep the life and thought of France in the narrow Papal 
channels. Morat and Theodore Beza had produced many 
of the Psalms of David in the French language. But it 
was considered that the use of the French language in re- 
ligious singing would bring contempt on the old Latin 
tongue, which alone was thought proper and lit for religious 
services. Upon this argument the use of the common lan- 
guage of the people in their worship was proceeded against. 

Francis I. at last felt the wrong and cruelty of the Papal 
bidding, to which he had been obedient. But it was too 
late for him to do anything more than to enjoin upon his 
son, who was to succeed him, an investigation of the whole 
matter. Then Francis went into eternity. 

There was a lull in the fires of Papal wrath, but no 
improvement for the poor Huguenots. On through the 
reigns of Henry II., Francis II., and Charles IX., up to 
St. Bartholomew, the storm of woe, after a short remission, 
went howling on, now receding and now advancing ; and 
every advancing wave cut a little higher up to the shore 
of a crisis, than had the last. 

ATTEMPT TO INTRODUCE THE INQUISITION. 

During the reign of Henry II., that king, and that brute 
of inhumanity, the Cardinal of Lorraine, united with the 
Pope in a move to introduce into France the Spanish In- 
quisition, which had already covered Holland with cries of 
suffering and had baptized the streets of Dutch villages 
with human blood. However, the parliament was not quite 
willing. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


251 


But Paul was Pope now, and lie liad little respect for the 
rights of any government. Having the king of France with 
him, he promptly ordered the Inquisition over the veto of 
parliament. The king quickly ratified the Papal bull, and 
the three French cardinals were constituted the commission 
to work it. Protestantism had grown too strong for such 
tan open court of persecution as the Inquisition. More secret 
methods had to be resorted to by the fools and tools of the 
Pope. 

DID THE POPES PLAN THE MURDER OF ALL EUROPEAN 
PROTESTANTS % 

. The Popes, through the two middle quarters of the six- 
teenth century, seemed bent on carrying out some plan for 
the universal murder of the Protestants of Europe. The 
Pope had an interview with Francis I., in which he sub- 
mitted to him for consideration the question: “Ought not 
Francis, and the princes of Germany, with the Emperor at 
the head, to gather up the forces, enlist troops and make 
all needful preparations to overwhelm the followers of 
Zwingli and Luther, in order that, affrighted by the terri- 
ble retribution visited upon their followers, the remaining 
heretics should hasten to make their submission to the Ho- 
man Church These Popes seemed the very incarnation 
of treachery and cruelty. There can be little doubt but 
the generally accepted view is correct, that during the time 
of Henry II., there was a secret conclave held by the Pope, 
with the kings of France and Spain, to consider a general 
massacre of the Protesants all over Europe, and so save the 
world to the allegiance of Home. The state papers of the 
English government seem to settle this. It was this secret 
treaty that Mary of Lorraine, regent- queen of Scotland, was 
working for, and at one time with great prospect of attain- 
ment. 


252 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Henry II. was no more inclined to apply himself to a 
correction of the ecclesiastical evils than the former king. 
This is succinctly shown by the way in which he allowed 
his mistress, Diana of Poitiers, to distribute the ecclesias- 
tical offices. 

THE PAPAL WAE UPON CONSCIENCE AND LIBEETY. 

The war upon conscience and liberty went on with in- 
creasing fury. There was a constant flow of blood, an un- 
interrupted cry of horror. The executions were carried on 
through all the hours of the day; some were hung, some 
strangled, many burned, multitudes were slain with the sword 
and still others beheaded, and many drowned in the Loire. 
A dozen bodies tied to a pole floating down the stream 
was no unusual sight. The Papal adherents enjoyed it, too. 
A favorite hour for public executions was that following 
the dinner, that the court ladies could regale themselves 
with an after-dinner entertainment of blood and torture. 

An ingenious contrivance was invented, for the sole pur- 
pose of prolonging the excruciating sufferings of the con- 
demned. The victim was suspended by chains over a blaz- 
ing fire, and was lowered into the flames, and then drawn 
out, and this process was kept up until the executioner chose 
to allow the sufferer to remain in the flames. 

The air was thick with plots, exposed before carried out. 
A charge of treason was trumped up against the Prince of 
Conde, one of the most powerful of the Huguenot lords. 
It was the work of the Guise-Lorraine tribe. He was con- 
demned to be beheaded, but the time was not considered 
opportune for such a stroke. An atrocious plot was formed 
to stab the king of Navarre. In fact, these plots were part 
of a general destruction, by assassination, of all the leading 
Protestants of France. The details have never come to 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


253 


light. It is known that a list was prepared of those, in all 
parts of the country, who were to be slain. Arrangements 
were partially made to divide the Papal forces into four 
divisions, and throw them quickly into all portions of the 
kingdom, upon the giving of the signal. The Spanish 
army was to co-operate ; things had gone so far that the 
governor of the city of Bayonne was instructed to surren- 
der that city to King Philip of Spain. The Bomish clergy 
had agreed to bear the expense. It is claimed that it was 
postponed by the sudden death of the king. 

PUBLIC ASSEMBLING FOEBIDDEN ON PAIN OP DEATH. 

The cause of right and liberty, as well as religion, had 
fared bad enough during the period the throne was occu- 
pied by Erancis II. He was weak, and the tool of the Ro- 
man agents. He assented to the promulgation of laws, in 
truth, they came from the throne, but were instigated by 
the Popish Guise-Lorraine faction, forbidding the assem- 
blage of the people for'worship, in any way except as ar- 
ranged for by the regular clergy, and this oh pain of death. 

Every conceivable calumny was hurled at the Huguenots, 
while all sorts of crimes were charged against them, even 
that of sacrificing children. The hatred of the Roman 
Catholic ignorant masses was aroused against them. Big- 
otry invented many ways to beat down and back the grow- 
ing spirit of progress. 

Admiral Coligny, in a presentation of this cause of the 
Huguenots before Catherine de Medicis, boldly declared to 
that foreign usurper, that the rule of foreigners lay at the 
bottom of the whole trouble, and that his people could not 
be expected to suffer as quietly as they had for the pre- 
vious forty years. 


254 


THE BOM AN PAPACY. 


The imbecility of Papal persecution was seen to have 
had an effect just the opposite of what was intended. The 
testimony of the dying martyrs so rapidly multiplied the 
Protestants, that it became necessary to prevent the wit- 
nessing for Christ on the rack and in the flame. The prac- 
tice became very general of cutting out the tongues of the 
condemed before sending them to execution, in order to 
prevent their wonderful testimony for liberty and truth. 
In some instances a large iron ball was forced into the 
mouth as equally effective. The report was once made 
“that all would be lost if such men were permitted to speak 
to the people.” 

PAPAL DIPLOMATS ARE OILY. 

The Papal agents were as diplomatic and oily in language 
as they were sinister and evil in heart, the while they were 
planning murder. They were devising assassination while 
professing general amnesty. Trickery and treachery, de- 
ception and hyprocrisy were coin in daily circulation 
among the Romish hirelings. A few like Bishop Briconnet 
and Antoine de Bourbon, the father of Henry of IMavarre, 
were seduced by fear, or bribery, to forsake the holy cause 
of liberty and right. And there were very few such in- 
deed. 

It was found quite impossible to crush a people of such 
devotion to freedom, who held to such a high sense of right 
and possessed such heroic elements of character. They re- 
ceived the treaties made with them, and securing them in 
their Just rights without undue elation, and when those 
treatise were broken, as they always were without an ex- 
ception, they bore the effect of the violated truce with calm 
equanimity, and held on to their resolution to abide the 
judgment of time and the verdict of the world. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


255 


The ideas of the first reformers in France did not pertain 
to civil rights, beyond such as bore directly upon religious 
tolerance. It was a religious move entirely in its begin- 
ning, and only became political after a whole generation 
of effort for religious reforms, and only then, by being 
thrown into confiict with the civil powers, upon the presen- 
tation of their petitions, and later their demands for re- 
ligious tolerance. They had no notion whatever of popular 
forms of government. They did not aspire to civil rights, 
but only aimed to acquire religious privileges. They were 
willing to leave all state matters, as they had been, to the 
throne, the ministry and the parliament. They only asked 
to be unmolested in the enjoyment of their religion, faith, 
and the free exercise of their religious services. And when 
we contemplate the success of the Reformation in Scotland, 
England and Holland, and the final defeat of the same truths 
in France, we are constrained to a statement that the French 
leaders made in this, a serious, and as it proved, a fatal mis- 
take. Zwingli was right, proven to be so by the subsequent 
history of three centuries, — religious and political reform 
stand or fall together. 

NO EELIGIOUS LIBEETY WHEEE EOME HAS POWEE. 

Originally the Huguenots were so mild in their claims, 
that they did not profess any desire, nor did they show 
any disposition, to overturn the political power of Rome in 
the land. They wanted to be free from Rome’s religious 
tyranny and corruption. We see the magnitude of this 
mistake. There can be no religious liberty where Rome’s 
foot is planted, unless civil liberty is striven for at the same 
time. The Reformation in upper Switzerland under Zwingli, 
and in Holland under Orange, and in Scotland under Knox, 


256 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


contained from the first, a conception of the importance of a 
political, as well as a religions protest against Rome. Henco 
one reason for the sad failure in France, and the marked 
success of the Reformation in northern Switzerland, in Hol- 
land, and in Scotland. 

SHALL KOMAN CATHOLICS GO TO CONGKESS ? 

Wherever Rome has her religion, she will have her poli- 
tics. To oppose her politics, is certain to affect her religious 
interests, as she regards them. The religious corruptions 
and religious tyrannies of Rome may rightly be opposed, 
along with her political craft and purpose. It is right to 
teach Roman Catholic people the religious errors, and es- 
pecially corruptions, of the Papal system. But it is not 
right to oppose any of their just political rights to which 
they are entitled under our. Constitution. A Roman Catho- 
lic has the right, if he can get votes enough to elect him, 
to be a member of Congress. And we would not wish to 
deprive him, on account of his religion, of that right. But 
it is perfectly proper that we should hold up to the voters 
of his district the possible, and in truth probable, danger 
of conferring a responsible office upon such. The well known 
political evils and moral corruptions of the ecclesiastical 
system with which he is connected, may well, and by right 
should be, considered a just reason and sufficient, to with- 
hold from him the political confidence of his felllow-citizens, 
until he has given years of service to our institutions, and 
so proven his fidelity. In this sense the religious and polit- 
ical phases of a patriotic opposition to the Roman Papacy 
are interlaced. 

The Huguenots were above reproach in their demand upon 
the throne. They did not rise up to demolish the throne, 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


257 


or change the dynasty, jor even destroy the Papal relations 
to the government ; nor did they aim to become a hostile 
party antagonistic to the throne, and watching for an oppor- 
tunity to change the mere political views of the king and 
ministry; or, failing in this, trusting to such a following as 
would put them into possession of the government, as was 
the case with the Puritans under Cromwell. 

Religious tolerance was their cry and their plea. Their 
religion was of more consequence than their life, and hence 
their readiness for martyrdom. They could fight for their 
rights, on such fields as Montcontour, Jarnac and St. Denis, 
where they gave proof of bravery and skill of the most 
commanding type, and left no doubt of their devotion to a 
cause. 


THE PAPACY BEGIHING THE CIVIL WAE. 

The immense gathering of the Protestants at their religious 
services was often most remarkable. Nine thousand as- 
sembled upon one occasion at Troyes to celebrate the Lord’ s 
Supper. Twenty- five thousand assembled, among them 
many of the nobility, to listen to Theodore Beza preach. 
So advanced was the movement that the Protestants of 
Orleans were considering a theological school, when the 
Duke of Guise turned a horde of Papal soldiers loose on the 
worshipers of a Protestant Church in Yassy. A civil war 
at once followed. It was a civil war, too, arising from re- 
ligious causes, and for which the Papacy was responsible, 
and which the Papal party began without cause or excuse. 
Yet the usual falsehoods were industriously circulated by 
the Papists to the effect that the Huguenots had commenced 
a religious war, and a detailed account of the most horrible 
crimes were peddled over the country, and charged to them. 


258 


THE ROMAN RAP ACT. 


This deliberate calumny did the cause of the Reformation 
much harm. 

The only result advantageous to the Protestants was a 
half measure of tolerance vaguely expressed in the terms of 
peace. Even this was niggardly accepted by the Roman 
Catholic authorities. In the town of Troyes, the Roman 
Catholic party, having heard that peace had been declared, 
determined to make use of the short interval ensuing be- 
fore they would be officially notified. The mayor of the 
city directed all the population to the prisons, where the 
Huguenots were savagely murdered. 

ROME NEVER KEEPS POLITICAL AGREEMENT. 

In spite of murder, war, confiscation of property, exile, 
hanging, burning, and the most hateful and inexcusable 
calumnies known to the modern centuries, the cause of re- 
ligious and political liberties in France grew on, and every 
year spread farther. The Romish party was driven to mad 
desperation. And when all hope of actually suppressing 
the Huguenots had departed, they took up the part of 
assumed tolerance, and played it well. Intercourse was 
sought and good will shown. Many regrets for the past 
were even given by the Papal hypocrites, but the fruits of 
their repentance never appeared; and warm professions 
assuring better treatment for the future were made, but 
those professions were never kept. One of the gravest 
charges to be made by history, against Papal politicians 
and Roman ecclesiastics, is that no trust whatever is to be 
imposed in promises, pledges or covenants, made by the 
leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, or her willing tools 
and zealous devotees. History teaches by examples, and 
from these examples makes up her judgments, and the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


259 


judgments of history are just. When history solemnly tes- 
tifies that Eome never kept political agreement or ecclesias- 
tic faith, there is hard to discover any ground upon which 
to rest any confidence. 

SEEIOUS CHARGE AGAINST ROME IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The game played by Eome in France towards the Hugue* 
nots, is being duplicated by the Eoman hierarchy in the 
United States now. Eome in America wears a mask. She 
is not what she seems. From what she now professes we 
cannot argue what she will be; but rather from what she 
has been are we to judge what she will be in our land. It 
is lamentable to find our people reposing confidence ia 
empty words. Where has the Eoman priesthood, with us, 
led that Church into a faithful co-operation with the intelE- 
gent drift of American patriotism ? 

WHEN ROME TALKS LOVE FOR FREEDOM, BEWARE I 

On every side, at present, are heard warm and excellent 
professions of Eoman Catholic love for liberty, free institu- 
tions and American laws. The declamations of admira- 
tion for the American fiag, which up to a year ago was 
never permitted in a Catholic Church on the occasion of a 
funeral over an old soldier, are wonderful effusions of de- 
votion to the national standard. According to what we 
have recently been told in paper, magazine and on platform, 
America never had such patriots as Irish Eoman Catholics, 
and the laws were never so supported as they are by Eom- 
an Catholics, while they evince great surprise that there 
should be any doubt about their love for the broadest princi- 
ples of American liberty. 


260 


THE BOM AN PAPACY. 


This idea, that they want to talk love, is a sudden one. 
So sudden that it is quite comical in every aspect of the 
case. A tree that bears fruit does not need to have a notice 
tacked on it, ‘‘I am a fruit tree.” If any one had known 
of the wonderful patriotism and American devotion of Irish 
Romanists, the general profession of love from them at 
present would be strange ; but truly it must be said that up 
to a time so recent as two years ago nothing was heard 
about the love of the Roman Catholic priesthood for Ameri- 
can principles and institutions. There was not a word of 
approval for our laws and liberties. There was instead, 
however, an unremitting stream of abuse, vilification and 
opposition, most unjustifiable and unpatriotic. In the 
light of Papal history let the meaning of all this be read. 
Rome had done the same thing before in France. When 
she tells us she most loves us, we have most reason to stand 
guard. 

DESIGiS’ or THE PAPAL PARTY IN FRANCE AND IN AMERICA. 

Much, like what we see in own country, was experienced 
in France, w^hen the Papal party entered into a hypocritical 
peace with the Huguenots. Rome had a design in quieting 
the fears of the growing Protestant party. If Rome can 
lure a nation into a sleep of confidence, she can best perfect 
her plans and mature her power. This cannot for one 
moment be forgotten in dealing with the Papacy. Her 
truce with the Huguenots, in which she covenanted to deal 
in tolerance, justice and good faith, was made with a direct 
intent ; and that intent was the anticipation of, and the 
preparation for the plan, by which the Huguenot leaders 
were to be decoyed to the capital city. 

The formation of that plot seems so unnatural and in- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


261 


human, that it awakens both disgust for the religious pre- 
tence of the Romish party, which invented and executed it, 
and distrust of the Papacy at every step in our own land, 
which it makes towards political domination. The Church 
which so misruled France in the days before St. Bartholo- 
mew, is no more fit to rule America now. There has been 
no improvement in her ways in any country, where she has 
had the larger part of the population in her communion. 
Roman Catholics can present no argument which will appeal 
to the confidence of men who are familiar with her course 
among the nations. She is as full of sophistry and dark 
diplomacy in our century, as she was in the sixteenth. Her 
hypocrisy in America is as great as it was in France. She 
may not intend to bleed our bodies, but she does intend to 
bleed our hearts. She may not intend to kill, but she does 
intend to despoil us of liberty and intelligence. She may 
not have designs on our property, but she has designs 
against our schools, our Constitution and our press. She 
has not stolen our lands, but she has stolen into the very 
citadel of our liberties, and proceeded to turn out the facts 
of our history, and overturn the laws of our country. 
Americans are slaves if they longer submit to her political 
rule. 


THE huguenot’s REVENGE. 

** Oh ! how our hearts were beating, when at the dawn of 
day 

We saw the army of the League drawn out in long 
array ; 

With all its priests-led citizens, and all its rebel peers, 

And Appenzel’s stout infantry, and Egmont’s Flemish 
spears. 

There rode the blood of false Lorraine, the curses of out 
land ! 

The dark Mayenne was in the midst, a truncheon in his 
hand! 

And, as we looked on them, we thought of Seine’s en- 
purpled flood, 

And good Coligny’s hoary hair all dabbled with his blood; 

And we cried unto the living God, who rules the fate of 
war. 

To fight for his own holy name, and Henry of Navarre. 

Now, God be praised, the day is ours! Mayenne has 
turned his rein, 

D’Aumale hath cried for quarter — the Flemish count is 
slain. 

Their ranks are breaking, like thin clouds before a Bis- 
cay gale ; 

The field is heaped with bleeding steeds, and flags, and 
cloven mail. 

And then we thought on vengeance, and all along our 
van, 

‘ Remember St. Bartholomew,’ was passed from man to 
man. 

But out spake gentle Henry, ‘ No Frenchman is my 
foe ; 

Down, down with every foreigner, but let your brethren 

go.’ 

Oh ! was there ever such a knight, in friendship or in 
war, 

As our sovereign lord. King Henry of Navarre !” 


Have those opposed by Rome 

.BUILT UP THE NEW CIVILIZA- 
TION ? 

The other nations who have been born into the new 
life in passing from the one shore to the other, have trav- 
ersed what is called a philosophical epoch, by which is 
meant the sacred movement of the mind and the soul in 
the modern world. Bacon, Descartes, Leibnitz, and we 
must also pronounce the great name of Luther, — these 
men, execrated in their times by the men of routine, were 
the missionaries of their nations; they converted the world 
to the new life. 


Quinet. 


PART VIIL 


ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S DREADFUL DAY AND 
ROME’S OVERTHROW OF FREE RACES. 

We are to further consider the principles, virtues and 
sufferings of this noble and heroic race, in conflict with the 
Papacy ; a race, it truly was, which was one of the products 
of the trying times of the sixteenth century, when men 
and women were imprisoned, tortured and slain, for not 
making their consciences pliable enough to agree to the 
tyrannies and corruptions of Rome. It was a race most 
superb in its moral, industrial and patriotic attributes. 

Each succeeding generation will do complimen t to its in- 
telligence and justice, by cherishing high regard for the 
sublime characteristics of this race, which suddenly, and 
with surprise to Europe, rose in moral and national strength 
and heroic grandeur. A race of such magnanimous quali- 
ties is entitled to long live in the broad esteem and high 
admiration of the world. The industrial, intelligent and 
moral elements of the French nation were unifled in it. 
It presents a race within a nation, and as distinct from the 
nation as though it were of different blood and language. 
It was a truly separate people, this race of sterling quali- 
ties and enduring principles. It grew along distinct lines, 
( 264 ) 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


265 


until it became a race the like of which there is not to be 
found in all history. In the earlier stages of its develop- 
ment there were many segments of its character, which 
merged into and could not be distinguished from the 
Roman elements in the nation, as was natural and to be 
expected. But as it fully matured, it presented a wholly 
distinct type of French Protestant character. In it, loyal- 
ty and patriotism were united ; art and religion were bound 
together ; while reform and chivalry were bound indissol- 
ubly, as not to be found in the Reformation of any other 
country. These peculiar combinations of elements gave 
a very pleasing and romantic tone to the struggle of the 
French to throw off the Romish yoke. 

THREE RACES OF HEROIC GRAITDEUR. 

In their monumental fame there are three names which 
tower to gorgeous height in modern Christianity, and in 
civilization as well. Those names are Puritan, Covenanter, 
Huguenot. The just fame of any one of them is so big that 
it is quite impossible to go round about it, and measure 
the magnificence of its walls, and tell the vastness of its 
works. In material progress, most certainly, and in moral 
achievements especially, have the races, bearing these titles, 
been in the forefront of the upper ranges of modern thought. 
In the most sterling qualities of mental, moral and phys- 
ical advancement, have they been noted, wherever they 
have settled. The most conservative of modern moral 
classes, they have been at the same time the most progres- 
sive. Their contributions, during two centuries, to domes- 
tic life, science, mechanics, religion and government, have 
been unmatched ; while in the difficult tgisk of unifying 
and establishing, in constitutional form, the principles and 
forces of both civil and religious liberty, they have been 


266 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


unexcelled. Let it have a lasting impress on the mind of the 
reader, that all three of these great races belong to the Pro- 
testant world ; and the majestic movements which they 
inaugurated, as the superb principles to which they held, 
belong to Protestant history exclusively ; while the great 
moral uplift, as well as the quickening impulse given to 
general progress, are landmarks of growth in civilization not 
found outside of the Protestant races. 

The last named of these races is one which tells with 
equal power of the perfidy of kings, the licentiousness of 
courts, the intrigue of Papacy, and the strangeness of Prov- 
idence. It furnishes the principal witness of history against 
vain women, of royal blood, bartering womanhood to po- 
litical passion, and religious bigotry. It bears the most 
crushing testimony, of all times and lands, against Popes, 
whose true character must be stamped as that of infamous 
cruelty and cruel infamy. The evidence it furnishes 
against bishops and cardinals, who used their station and 
office to prostitute religion and morals, in the interest of 
personal ambition and passions, has been unimpeached, 
and is of the most damaging nature. 

WHY THE BLOODY CHAPTER SHOULD NOT BE LOST. 

It may be said, that the only excuse for uncovering this 
awful page of history is, that the world should never for- 
get the warning of the sixteenth century in France, nor be 
permitted to lose the example and inspiration of the Hu- 
guenot character. But for this, it were better if the whole 
period should sink into irrecoverable oblivion. For that 
was not only one of the most bloody chapters in the history 
of the Papal Church, but as well the most humiliating 
abuse of common humanity. And yet, as often seen, when 
the night is the darkest the light is the brightest. In that 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


267 


gloomy night, when royalty espoused the regency of vice, 
and the policy of the court of the greatest kingdom of Eu- 
rope was that of demagogism and hypocrisy, then there 
comes forth such an exhibit of faith, Christian endurance 
and holy heroism, as to illuminate all the future with its 
light, and furnish such examples for Christian patriotism 
to emulate as are hard to find elsewhere. 

In the beginning of the sixteenth century France had 
obtained about that extent of territory marked out by nat- 
ural boundaries. She had been four hundred years en- 
grossed in this pursuit. She was the leading kingdom of 
Europe, in power and accomplishment. It was the time of 
the accession of Francis I. He broke up the feudalism of 
the past, and centralized the authority of the kingdom iu 
the court of the king. 

At the time of his death, and the accession of Henry II. , 
the ideas of the Reformation, principally under the teach- 
ing of John Calvin, Le Fevre and Farel, had grown to great 
power in France. More than one-third of the people had 
accepted the Reformed doctrines. Princes of the realm, 
such men as the Prince of Conde and Admiral Coligny, were 
the leaders. Olivatanus, Morat, Calvin, were able scholars, 
who were perfected in the art of pure language. Into the 
elevated French language Olivatanus translated the Bible, 
while Farel printed the New Testament in elegant French. 
Morat translated the Psalms and set them to popular French, 
airs ; and soon these great Psalms of David were sung in 
the powerful and melodious French language in camp and 
court, in field and cottage. Calvin wrote his Institutes of 
Christian doctrine. The effect was all powerful. 

The French language, as used by these elegant writers, 
became the polite tongue of Europe. Under fair and pow- 
erful conditions, it looked as if the Reformed faith was roll- 


268 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


ing to a great triumph, and France was expected to become 
a Protestant nation, as England and Scotland. But the 
leaders were not strong enough, as men of action, to over- 
come the Papal conspiracies. They were rather more he- 
roic in suffering, than practical in leading. 

THE COURT A PEST-HOUSE OF EVIL PLOTTING. 

The throne was strictly Papal, and in close relation to 
the court of Rome. A mighty plot was formed to destroy 
the Protestants, who were now generally called Huguenots. 
Each king seemed to surpass his predecessor in being more 
severe in tyranny and more implacable in treachery. In- 
justice and outrage, intrigue and assassination grew into 
awful proportions. The court was a pest-house of evil plot- 
ting, in the interest of the Papacy. Only one king out of 
five, in a period of fifty years, died a natural death. Henry 
II. of France and Philip of Spain had a plot agreed upon 
to overthrow the Protestantism of Holland. The diabolical 
Alva was to be the despicable agent of the Papacy. This 
was intercepted by the noble Prince of Orange, and the 
timely death of Henry II. Catherine de Medicis, the Car- 
dinal of Lorraine, and the Pope, had another great plot, to 
overthrow the Protestantism of England, and unite Eng- 
land, Scotland and France into one great Roman Catholic 
Empire. 

THE BLACKEST CRIME OF THE PAPACY. 

But we must consider the most important agencies which 
co-operated in the effort to utterly destroy as grand a class 
of moral heroes as the world has known. And the effort is 
to be regarded as the most stupendous criminal outrage of 
the centuries, as well as the blackest deliberate crime of the 
Papacy. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


269 


The first consideration to make, is that of the domination 
of woman’s influence in the affairs of the world. Woman 
came to the front in the sixteenth century government and 
diplomacy. On the throne of England was Elizabeth, the 
first of the great female sovereigns of the world, whose reign 
conduced to mark progress in national wealth, power and 
prosperity. Mary of Lorraine held the regency of Scotland, 
until Mary Stuart became Queen, whom Knox describes, 
after his first interview with her, as having a ‘‘proud mind, 
crafty wit, and indurate heart.” Fulvia Morata was the 
pride of Italy, giving lectures to nobles and professors when 
a girl of but fifteen. Victoria Colonna, the friend of Michael 
Angelo, held by the charm of her elegant conversation the 
leading scholars of Naples and Rome. Helena was regent 
of Russia. But nowhere, as in France, was there such a 
coterie of women, whose beauty was rivaled by their vanity, 
whose cunning was that of the Jesuit, and whose excesses 
in vice were unmatched in the world. 

THE MOST IGHOBLE WOMAN OF ALL. 

At their head was the most ignoble woman of her age, if 
not of all ages, CatheHne de Medicis. For nearly fifty 
years she was a power at court, where she worked as the 
secret agent of Rome. Her’s was a calamitous name in 
Europe. Her’s was a family devoted to the Papacy. But 
it was as fatal to the Papacy, as to the peace of nations. 
Under Leo X. , Germany became a Protestant nation. Under 
Clement YIII., England apostatized. And now France was 
slipping away under Pius lY., a third Pope of the same 
ill-starred family. 

The first piece of diplomacy engaged in by Catherine de 
Medicis, was to seduce the Huguenots into the Papal trap. 


270 


THE HOMAN PAPACY, 


by planning a wedding between the beautiful Mary of Scots 
to the Huguenot leader, Conde. But Conde was not to be 
trapped by the sweet and quaint Scottish ballads of Mary 
Stuart. Hor did she succeed in a second scheme to wed 
Admiral Coligny to this same beautiful heir to the Scottish 
throne, who was even then pleasantly dreaming of the 
tripple crown of England, Scotland and France. It was a 
game to recover Scotland and France to the Papacy, then 
being played on the covered board of Papal diplomacy, by 
Mary of Lorraine, the Pope of Home, and dissolute women. 
The Pope’s crafty agent in this conspiracy was the Cardi- 
nal of Lorraine, himself a member of the infamous Medicis 
family. 

The cardinal succeeded in marrying Mary Stuart to 
Francis II., who had neither the instincts of a man, nor the 
qualities of a king, and was little short of an imbecile. In 
Catherine’s policy, vice played a hand as an agency to reach 
her end. Her shamelessness and recklessness were fully 
up to her accomplished manners and polished wit. This in- 
carnation of vanity and cruelty was surrounded by such 
women as Madame Dianna of Portiers. Court life was one 
daily round of debauchery, intrigue and murder. Immoral 
women and the Papacy are a fit but exceedingly bad com- 
bination. 

HOW FEAHCE MIGHT HAVE BEEH SAVED THE MASSACRE OF 
ST. BARTHOLOMEW. 

Had the earlier French reformers had more of the courage 
of Luther and Zwingli, and the thoroughness of Knox, and 
the unquenchable fire and determination of William of 
Orange, the world might have been spared the spectacle of 
the assassination of the Admiral of the kingdom, and the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


271 


massacre of Bartholomew. Because of the lack of com- 
pleteness which characterized the earlier leaders, the Papacy- 
had time and opx)ortunity to devise and hatch its plots for 
extermination. Thousands of lives might have been saved, 
and dreadful scenes of carnage and suffering might have 
been spared, had there been more courage of conviction 
and heroism of action at first, on the part of the leaders of 
the Beformation in France. Any measure of compromise 
with the Papal hierarchy is an unmitigated evil, and 
charged with certain failure. 


DISLOYAL AMERICAN POLITICIANS. 

Many people in the United States are disposed to confer 
with the Papal priesthood, and show a willingness to enter 
into a compromise on the school question, legislation and 
the management of our institutions, in a way to gratify the 
Boman Catholic Church. The very thought of such a 
course is infamous. The men who are engaged in this un- 
American work are little better than traitors, and should be 
looked upon as playing into the hands of freedom’s most 
unrelenting foe — such men engaged in political life are be- 
traying the nation into conditions, which will bring to us 
trying, if not bloody, times. Disloyal men should be kept 
out of all political life. Let the people reply to their hypoc- 
risies at the ballot box. This is the day when America 
should bury in oblivion Papal political bossism. 

THE POPE A PARTY TO CRIME. 

A new combination was formed agayist Protestant France. 
Catherine entered into league with Philip of Spain, the 
Pope, the Cardinal of Lorraine and the house of Guise. This 
league was worked with cunning and secrecy. Plan fol- 


272 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


lowed plan, and plot succeeded plot. Under this policy 
Charles IX. was urged by Philip and the Pope to destroy 
the Huguenots. The Pope warned him he might lose his 
kingdom if he did not obey. Catherine and the infamous 
Alva were in confidential conference at Bayonne. It ap- 
pears that a plan was laid to carry off Henry of Xavarre, a 
youthful Protestant prince, and his mother, and deliver 
them to Philip of Spain. It failed, but it is clear that sev- 
eral Catholic generals knew of it. 

MURDERED BY A PAPAL SOLDIER. 

When the great Protestant leader, Conde, was murdered 
by a Papal soldier, the Prince of Navarre was but a youth. 
Conde had been wounded in the battle of Jarnac by an ac- 
cident, and with the bone protruding from his leg, he led 
his troops forward in gallant style. Upon being borne from 
his horse by the press of the ranks about him, he promptly 
surrendered to a gentleman that he knew. At this point a 
captain of the Homan Catholic forces approached him from 
behind, and shot him in the back. When the news of this 
sad and shameful crime reached the Queen of Navarre, she, 
with her son Henry, hurried off to the Huguenot camp. 
Before the assembled army the young prince swore ‘‘ on his 
honor, soul and life” never to forsake the Protestant cause. 
The queen mother put on his armour, declaring asshedidso, 
that the necessities of the cause, in such an hour of calam- 
ity, raised him above his age, and her above her sex. This 
mark of devotion to the cause of religious liberty and the 
interests of the Huguenots, made the mother and son the 
target of Papal intrigue. Hence the above plot for their 
removal from the country. 


THE ROHAN PAPACY. 


273 


PAPAL CONSPIRACIES WITH US. 

These conspiracies against liberty and life upon the part 
of the Papal Church in the past, are ripe with warnings 
for us in these times. An organization that in its very na- 
ture is despotic is to be watched with a vigilance that knows 
no slumber ; and particularly, at a time when there is an 
attempt to revive the political power of the Papacy, ought 
we to keep the eagle eye of watchfulness upon the course 
of the priest and Pope in our country. LaPayette was a 
political prophet ; if ever the liberties of our country are 
endangered, that danger will be thrust upon us by the hand 
of the Roman priest. This was his warning, and it has 
been realized, and we are dealing with this condition. 

MANY ROMISH PLOTS IN FRANCE. 

The half hatched plot to get Henry of Navarre and his 
mother into Spain, where they might be dealt with by the 
Papal adherent, Philip the king, was given up because of 
the suspicion that the crime was discovered ; or because of 
the anticipated difficulties in the way. These conspiracies 
against all civil rights and liberties, were turned in one di- 
rection, and then in another. At one time they connived 
at the Protestants in France ; at another, against the king- 
dom of England ; and at another the Holland reformers were 
the object of the Papal wrath, which inspired all of these in- 
trigues. These plots were against individuals, their rights 
and life ; or against governments, their laws and thrones, and 
all the while they were against religious liberty. The plot- 
ting parties appear in different combinations. Now we see 
Catherine, the Cardinal of Lorraine, and the Pope; and 
now Catherine, the family of the Guises and the profligate 


274 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


court women ; and now the party is constituted of Cather- 
ine, the Catholic league and the Pope ; again it is Cather- 
ine, the Pope and -the Roman Catholics in Scotland ; and 
still again, Catherine, Alva and Philip of Spain. In all 
of these plots, the most famous woman of infamy, Cather- 
ine de Medicis, had a hand. She was the evil spirit of her 
country and her day. The most evil combination, perhaps, 
was that of Catherine and Alva, who conceived more suf- 
ferings for the world, than any two persons of their cen- 
tury. Together they stand, the representatives of a mature 
and desperate Papacy, corrupt in heart, and unprincipled 
in means, and all the while brutal and cruel. By its fruits 
let every tree be judged. 

Now we approach the most unfortunate and sickening 
event that discolors the brow of history — the day of St. 
Bartholomew. Was that awful crime intended and pre- 
meditated? From an extensive reading of antecedent 
events, and a careful examination of the causes leading to 
it, there can be no intelligent doubt of it ; though we 
may believe the extent of the massacre far exceeded the in- 
tent of the originators. Several things appear clear. 

WHEKE THE BAETHOLOMEW MASSACRE WAS HATCHED. 

At Bayonne, this same partnership of crime, Catherine 
and Alva, hatched the massacre of Bartholomew, and were 
overheard by Henry of Navarre. 

How many this debauched mistress of the French court 
included in her deliberate plot of murder can never be 
known. But it did involve the betrayal by treachery, and 
then the assassination, of Admiral Coligny, and others of 
the Huguenot leaders. Months before the occasion came to 
execute the plot, it was determined by this worst woman 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


275 


of the age, that the best and most honest man of the nation 
had to die, because he was not an adherent of the Roman 
Catholic faith, and a tool of the Papacy. Admiral Coligny, 
who had an almost Quaker-like dread of war, and did his 
utmost to stay it off, had no blot on his character, no stain 
on his moral purity, in an age. of general license in France. 
Girt about with his sensitive conscience, and armed with 
the noble principles of the Huguenot teachings, he was a 
rare man ; but alas, too mild for his day and duty. William 
of Orange would have taken a different, and perhaps better, 
course, but it would have involved the parties in fatal con- 
flict before the dreadful day of Bartholomew, and likely 
fewer lives would have been sacrificed in the long run ; 
while the Protestant cause would have stood a greater chance 
for success. When it is certain that an enemy is preparing 
for war it is unwise, from a military point of view, to wait 
until the plots are matured and the blow is ready to fall. 
The Swiss cantons, and against Zwingli’s advice, remained 
quiet whilst the Papal cantons secretly prepared for war ; 
when the storm burst they were not ready for it, and the 
cause of the Reformation met a defeat, and Zwingli lost his 
life. The Protestants at one time numbered fully one-half 
million, and millions in sympathy with them, and a more 
courageous course might have saved life and the Reforma- 
tion. 

Though Coligny feared the responsibility of war, he was 
beyond the wiles of Papal sophistry. He could be neither 
bribed with the province of Sandinia, nor tempted with the 
hand of the beautiful Mary Stuart, who through all her life 
was a tool of the Papal courts of Europe, and permitted her 
rare beauty to go in the market in the interest of the cause 
of the Popes. 


276 


TEE BOMAE PAPACY. 


A EOTAL WEDDING THE TRAP. 

The plan of the Komish leaders to murder was a deliberate 
one. The plot was working for months to draw the lead- 
ing Huguenots to Paris. It was a most diabolical work. 
Charles IX. was king, and Catherine de Medicis was the 
mistress of the kingdom. In order to make the plot suc- 
cessful it was considered important that there should be a 
royal wedding at Paris. According to her faith, marriage 
was a sacrament; but no matter, to Catherine any virtue of 
character, or sacrament of the Church, might be made a 
convenience of expediency. 

It was arranged that the king’s sister should marry the 
young Huguenot leader, Henry of Navarre. He was the 
first prince of the realm, and heir to the throne. He was 
the hope of the Protestant cause. Catherine expected that 
the debauchery of her court women would soon prove too 
much for the severe morals of the austere Huguenots. It 
is evident from this that she did not include him in her list 
of those to be murdered. The Pope’s legate at first made 
a show of objection to the marriage of the king’s sister, a 
devout Homanist, to a Protestant. But that was perhaps 
a mere show, to mislead the Huguenots. But for Papal in- 
trigue Henry of Navarre might have been saved that love- 
less, childless, and altogether unhappy marriage. It was 
to prove as luckless to his cause as was the Egyptian wife 
to Solomon. 

THE HUGUENOT LEADERS ENTICED TO THE CITY. 

t 

The marriage festivities were held at Paris, and aU the 
Huguenot leaders were enticed to the city. The day of 
Catherine de Medicis and of the Pope had come. The great 


THE ROHAH PAPACY. 


277 


Protestant nobles were at the ceremonies. When the wed- 
ding was over with, Catherine and her brother had a con- 
ference with the Duke of Guise, prominent as a leader in 
the Catholic league, and the final measures were concerted 
for the death of Coligny. A hired assassin was stationed 
behind the blinds of a house, which it w^as the custom of 
the Admiral to pass on his way to the Louvre palace. He 
lay in wait for three days. Then came the chance. He 
fired three balls at Coligny, but they did not prove fatal. 
This failure drove Catherine into a fit of desperation. The 
Admiral was in Paris, under the pledged word of the king, 
with guarantees of safety. But what if Admiral Coligny 
was one of the first characters of his time, a benefactor of 
the race, beyond all comparison the greatest prince of his 
country, in an age when there were princes not a few, brave, 
sincere, heroic and religious ? Was not the king cruel and 
perfidious, and was not the king’s mother a woman hard- 
ened by crime, whose icy soul could be moved by no com- 
passion, and whose conscience could be touched by no sense 
of justice? 

Charles IX. went to the room of the wounded Admiral, 
and overwhelmed him with demonstrations of sorrow, and 
assurances of protection. In the morning the Protestant 
nobles were at first inclined to take their wounded leader, 
and all retire from Paris. But Coligny argued the king’s 
good faith, and it was decided to remain. 

Fatal decision ! The crisis which years had been prepar- 
ing for was at hand. The trust w^hich Coligny and his 
friends imposed in the hypocritical promises of the king 
was wholly misplaced. It never proves safe to confide in 
the pledges of Papal rulers. Their religion teaches them 
that it is right to break promises with heretics. The people 
who are trilling with this great fact of history may yet rue 
their short sightedness. 


278 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


PLAYING A DESPEKATE HAND. 

, At this juncture Catherine saw that she must play her 
last, and most desperate, hand at once. A hasty conference 
with several of the Roman Catholic leaders was held. To- 
gether they asked for an audience with the king. It was 
granted. By every argument of sophistry, ingenuity, and 
by Jesuit deception, the king was persuaded that the safety 
of the throne, and the unity of the kingdom, rested upon 
the destruction of the Protestants ; that if he did not act at 
once, and order that Coligny be slain, a Holy Catholic 
League would be formed, under their lead, and the realm 
would be cleared of the Huguenots ; that he was already in 
disfavor with the Church because he had shown favors to 
the heretics. For an hour and a half the king withstood 
their pleadings, and the threats of his mother. The cruel 
woman, knowing how to work her son, kept up her volume 
of passionate appeal and angry censure, working now on 
his fear, and now on his ambition, until she gauged aright 
the rise of his passion and desperation, and then she stung 
him keenly with the imputation that he was too timid to 
act the X)art of a king of France. 

THE KING DECIDES ON THE MURDEE. 

Enough ! His passion had now reached a frenzy, and 
leaping to his feet, he strided across the room, and ex- 
claimed : “ Since you insist, I consent that the Admiral be 
killed ; but along with him every Huguenot in France must 
perish, that not one remain to reproach me with his death ; 
and what you do, see that it be done quickly.” And 
Charles IX. rushed like a madman from the room. Awful 
perfidy, and conscienceless act ! Terrible will be the suffer-^ 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


279 


ing of the king in that day when his conscience shall turn 
upon him, and charge him with his crime ! 

The arrangements for the massacre were secretly and 
quickly made. They were under the management of Madame 
Catherine de Medicis and the Roman Catholic leaders in 
the court. Well was it planned with a view to general 
murder. No such a scheme for wholesale assassination had 
been known since the day of Herod. The depravity of 
bigotry and intolerance had reached its lowest depths, and 
the spirit of the Papal institutions was making an exhibit 
which was to be a warning to all future times and nations. 

PKE- ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE MASSACRE. 

All of the gates of the city were locked; all the boats 
moored along the banks of the Seine were removed ; all the 
military were assembled ; chains were drawn across the 
streets. Some strange things were discovered later in the 
night. On thousands of houses a white cross was tacked. 
These were the homes of the Protestants. Men moved about 
with white handkerchiefs tied about their right arm. These 
were the Roman Catholics. Torches blazed forth in the 
streets, to light up the houses with the white cross on them. 
Such things could only be done by long and careful prepara- 
tion and concerted action, and they indicate the intention 
of the Roman Catholic authorities who planned for the 
massacre. 


THE TOCSIN OF DEATH. 

At a late hour the bell of St. Germain rang upon the air. 
What for ? Alas, it was the tocsin of death. The slaughter 
seemed to begin at every quarter of the city at the same 


280 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


moment. Admiral Coligny was among tlie first, if not the 
very first, to be run through with the sword. The Roman 
Catholic nobles superintended the assassination of the Ad- 
miral themselves. As he overheard the tumult, he knew 
that his death was at hand. As the mad dupes of the 
Papacy rushed into his room they fell upon the wounded 
Admiral, and hacked him with their swords. The Duke of 
Guise called from the courtyard, where he was waiting the 
result of the attack on the Admiral, ‘‘Have you finished? 
Throw him out of the window for us to see with our eyes.” 
Even then life was not quite gone. The Admiral clung to 
the window bars, though the body was crushed and fearfully 
mangled. As it fell to the pavement beneath, the Duke of 
Angouleme, a bastard of Henry II., who had special charge 
of the Admiral’s murder, wiped the blood from the face, to 
make sure he had the Admiral’s form before him, and kick- 
ing it, he turned away. 

So perished the great and good Admiral of the French na- 
tion. He was a noble character, a brave soldier, and a true 
patriot, though a man less mild, and less apt to place con- 
fidence in the pledges of Romanists, might have been saved 
his lamentable fate. Brantome, a leader on the Papal side, 
bears witness that “no selfish motive led Coligny to draw 
his sword, and that had he been less patriotic and less loyal, 
he would not have perished a victim to his hatred of civil 
strife.” 


FATE OF ADMIEAL COLIGNY. 

The head of the Admiral was cut off and sent to Catherine, 
while his body was dragged about Paris for the space of 
three days. The Papal soldiers, on the field of Cappel, cut 
the body of Zwingli into four parts. Such is the malice of 
Rome shown towards even the dead. 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


281 


At dawn the next day the bell on the Hotel de Yille 
signaled the Homan Catholics and the mob to the general 
slaughter. During the first day the nobles and Protestants 
mostly suffered. In the Louvre the work was most cruel 
and shameful ; for there the Protestant nobles were resting 
as the guests of the king, and he was under every obligation 
of manhood to protect them. They were dragged out by 
the Papal guard, and cut down before the king, who, wild 
with excitement, urged on the massacre. As they fell about 
him they reproached him for his broken faith. 

As the destruction of life went on every evil passion was 
set loose, and men seemed like demons, as they raged in 
their malice, rage and hate. As the day wore on thousands 
fell every hour. Even children cut down each other, and 
exhibited the utmost depravities of nature. Charles sat at 
the window part of the time, and watched the Huguenots 
hacked to pieces at the palace gate, and was unmoved, as 
their pitying eyes were lifted pleadingly to him. Madame 
de Medicis, and the court women stood about the windows, 
and engaged in laughing at the passing incidents of horror 
and scenes of butchery ; and in the evening they tripped 
out upon the street, in gay attire, to view the dead. It 
was an evening of joy, gaiety and hilarity for them. 

MOST INEXCUSABLE BUTCHERY OF MODERN TIMES. 

At least two thousand Huguenots perished in Paris alone. 
They were the nobles, the most intelligent families, and the 
leading mechanics. The surprise was so complete, that 
none were able to make any show of resistance. It was a 
veritable slaughter of the innocents. For a week the dia- 
bolical work went on. No sex, or age or station or dignity, 
or virtue or infirmity afforded a retreat. No such a wanton 


282 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


massacre and inexcusable butchery has disgraced modern 
times. The dead fell in showers from the windows ; the 
streets ran red in streams of blood ; the navigation of the 
Seine was impeded by dead bodies. Orders were sent by 
government throughout the provinces to exterminate the 
Protestants utterly. 

THE bride’s report OF THE MASSACRE. 

Accounts of personal incidents, given by Roman Catho- 
lic writers, aid in forming opinions of the unexpectedness 
and severity of the massacre. Margaret of Yalois was the 
bride of a few days. She it was who had married the 
Prince of Navarre, and whose wedding was the opportunity 
for getting the Huguenots to Paris. She gives a most inter-^ 
esting experience connected with the slaying of her fellow- 
countrymen. “The Huguenots,” she says, “suspected 
me because I was a Catholic ; the Catholics because I had 
married the King of Navarre. So that I heard nothing of 
what was going on till the evening, when, as I was sitting 
on a chest in my mother’s room by the side of my sister, 
the Dutchess of Lorraine, whom I saw to be very sad, the 
Queen-Mother noticed me and told me to go to bed. As I 
was courtesying to her my sister laid hold of my arm and 
burst into tears saying, ‘For God’s sake, sister, don’t go.’ 
I was greatly frightened, and seeing this the Queen, my 
mother, spoke very sharply to my sister, and forbade her 
to say anything to me, adding that, please God, no harm 
would happen to me, but that come what might, go I must, 
lest something should be suspected. I did not hear what 
was said, but again and very roughly my mother told me 
to go. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


283 


'‘As soon as I was in my room I threw myself on my 
knees and prayed God to protect me, though I knew not 
from what or against whom. 

“Meanwhile the King, my husband,* had gone to bed and 
sent word to me to come to him. I found his bed sur- 
rounded by thirty or forty Huguenots whom I did not yet 
know, for I had only been married a few days. All night 
long they remained talking of what had happened to the 
Admiral, and determining as soon as day broke to ask for 
redress against M. de Guise ; and if it were not granted, 
then to seek it for themselves. As for me, the tears of my 
sister weighed on my mind and I could not sleep for fear of 
some unknown evil. At dawn, the King, my husband, 
said he would go and play tennis till King Charles was 
awake, having made up his mind to ask him at once to do 
justice. He then left my room, and his gentlemen with 
him. Seeing that it was light, and thinking that the dan- 
ger of which my sister had spoken was passed, and being 
heavy with drowsiness, I told my nurse to lock the door, 
so that I might sleep undisturbed. An hour later, when I 
was fast asleep, some one came beating with hands and feet 
against the door and shouting 'IN’avarre, Navarre!’ My 
nurse, thinking it was my husband, ran to open the door. 
It was a gentleman wounded by a sword in the elbow, and 
his arm cut by a halberd, who rushed into my room pur- 
sued by four archers. Seeking safety, he threw himself on 
my bed. Feeling this man clutching me, I threw myself 
into the space between the bed and the wall, where, he still 
grasping me, we rolled over, both screaming and both 
equally frightened. Fortunately, the captain of my 
guards, M. de Hancay, came by, who saw me in such a 
plight, that sorry as he was, he could not help laughing, 
but drove the archers out of the room and gave me the life 


■284 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


of the poor gentleman, who was still clinging to me, and 
whom I caused to be tended and nursed in my dressing- 
room till he was quite cured. While I changed my night 
dress, for he had covered me with his blood, M. de Nancay 
told me what had happened, but assured me that my hus- 
band was in the King’s room and in no danger. Making 
me throw on a dressing-gown, he then led me to the room 
of my sister, Madame de Lorraine, which I reached more 
dead than alive ; just as I was going into the ante-room a 
gentleman trying to escape from the archers who were pur- 
suing him fell stabbed three paces from me. I, too, fell, half 
fainting, into the arms of M. de Nancay, and felt as if the 
same blow had pierced us both.” 

THE KINO CONFESSES HIS EESPONSIBILITY. 

The King avowed the massacre was by his mandate ; and 
to some of the Huguenots who escaped he said : “I give 
you three days to consider, and then the mass, death, or 
theBastile; take your choice.” Then he gave way to a 
sardonic smile. 

Thus St. Bartholomew closed with a laugh and a sar- 
casm, as it had begun with broken faith and wild beast’s 
frenzy I 

TWENTY THOUSAND BUTCHERED BY THE PAPACY. 

It was extremely difficult to arrive at a reliable estimate 
of the number of Huguenots that lost their lives by St. 
Bartholomew’s massacre. The usual estimate given is that 
of twenty thousand, though some say twice as many, some- 
what high for a three days’ massacre. Though this enor- 
mous number may have fallen, the victims of Papal intrigue 
and woman’ s perfidy. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


285 ^ 


In that shameful hour, just before he set the hounds 
of persecution on the Huguenots, in his consulation with 
his mother, Charles had forgotten that he had a conscience, 
but conscience did not forget to come back to the king. 
The return of conscience to the base violator of his word 
was a visitation of retribution. 

Nor ear can hear, nor tongue can tell 

The tortures of that inward hell. 

Cecil, the classic writer, is a moral philosopher of the 
Scriptural caste when he says : ‘ ‘ When conscience smite thee 
once it is admonition ; if twice it is condemnation.” After 
the smiting of conscience once, and before that of condem- 
nation, the conscience is wont to retire for a season into 
the curtained halls of silence. But a conscience which has 
been driven to silence, and at last returns, and turns on its 
offender with bitter lash, is a monster vomiting into the 
heart the fires of torment. Never yet was the voice of con- 
science silenced without retribution. The heaviest sorrow 
that intrudes upon the heart, is when the past is unfolded, 
and through the partings returning conscience springs. 
There is felt 

A loneliness that seems to belt 
The universe in its embrace ; 

There is no other dreariness, 

That can so sadden and oppress, 

as when conscience rides in on the steed of once buried 
memories and tells the soul of its lost inheritance. The 
most awful thing to infiict the mind, is that remorse which 
is born of a rejected conscience returning in its judicial ca- 
pacity. 

THE KING AND HIS CONSCIENCE. 

So conscience came like a flood-tide to the French king. 
Ketributive justice is but the fire-tongue of conscience. 


286 


THE ROMAN PAP'ACY. 


Charles IX. in the sick room of Admiral Coligny, who is 
suffering from the shot of the assassin, pledges protection. 
Hrs conscience is on fire. But he repairs to the palace, to 
take counsel of the vilest woman of the centuries. And 
finally he says : “I will have it so. And with Admiral 
Coligny all the Huguenots of France must be killed in order 
that not one remain to reproach me.” Stupid king ! Didst 
thou not stay to think that if thou hadst killed every 
Frenchman in thy realm, thine own conscience remained 
to reproach thee ? In a short while conscience returned, 
and behold, remorse walked by her side, and there was no 
pity in her eyes ; but there was a lash in her hand. Ah, 
conscience is an artist. Presently pictures began to ap- 
pear on the canvas of the king’s mind. In the gaities of 
the court the scenes would not quit his memory ; and at 
night their terrors would parade through his dreams. A 
flock of ravens came to the Louvre palace and filled the air 
with dismal croakings. And the king saw in the ravens 
other creatures than they were, and heard in their screams 
other sounds than earthly ones. At last King Charles is 
passing out into the eternities, and these queries fall from 
his lips : “ How many murders ? What \ rivers of blood!” 

The fatal scorpion has reached him at last. 

WHY EOME KILLED THE HUGUENOTS. 

Who were these Huguenots, for whom the King of France 
had no sentiment of tolerance, and the Papal hirelings had 
no tear of pity 1 

They were the real reformers of France, and the cham- 
pions of religious liberty and rights of conscience. They 
were simple in dress, peaceful in temper, frugal in life, pa- 
tient in suffering and intelligent in mind, and withal, the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


287 


Tery flower of the industrial wealth of the nation. They 
were greatly oppressed, and when they petitioned for tol- 
erance in religion, and especially when they sought inde- 
pendence of worship, they were persecuted to the point of 
extinction. Ux) to Bartholomew’s day they had been satis- 
fied with mere toleration. 

These Protestants of France were not, as in Switzerland, 
aiming to overthrow the Papal power in the government ; 
but they did read the Bible, and sang the Psalms of David, 
in the French translation of Morat, and they dispensed 
with the mass. And even when they resorted to arms, 
they did not rise up to overthrow the throne, change the 
d.ynasty, or aim to become a political power, as did the 
Puritans ; but they went to arms simply in defense of their 
right to liberty in matters religious. Because they were 
the most brave, the most intelligent, the most moral class 
in the country, they had to die. That was it ; and that was 
all. 

Oh, Charles IX., how will this look in eternity? Oh, 
France ! it was not the first, nor the last, colossal outrage 
of the Homan Papacy in thy fair country, but it was the 
greatest. 

HIGH JOY OF THE CATHOLICS AT THE CRIME. 

And what did the powers of Europe do, in view of this 
right royal assassination of at least twenty thousand good 
subjects, and choice freemen? Did the Papal rulers of 
Europe lament, and make complaint and punish ? Did the 
highest authorities of the Homan Catholic Church, know- 
ing that but for their Church there could not have been 
such an awful event occurring, take measures to atone, as 
far as possible, for the deep crime ? 


288 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Look at the showing: Charles IX., and his court and 
his clergy, in courtly procession, repaired to the cathedral 
of Xotre Dame, to give hymns of praise, rejoicing before 
heaven that France had been delivered from the Huguenots. 
And Charles IX. was a Papal ruler. So the king of France, 
who ordered the massacre, and gave no lament until remorse 
took possession of his mind, was in high glee at the deed. 

The princes and women of the court, in a si)irit of hate 
and by acts of lust, gave vent to their delight, and paraded 
the streets in insolence and wine, and rivaled each other, 
not only in debauchery, but in hideous orgies of wild en- 
thusiasm over the death of the Protestants. And this was. 
a Homan Catholic court, under the power of the Papal 
tyranny. 

Most satisfied of all was Catherine, whose plan had carried 
far beyond her expectations. She hated the Admiral, feared 
the Protestant nobles, and saw in the Huguenots the com- 
ing power, which, if left alone, would eventually bring^ 
France to that degree of liberty and freedom from Papal 
oppression which had already come to Germany and Swit- 
zerland. Xot perhaps because she cared much for even the 
Papal religion, but the Church of Home was a despotic 
form of government, and that best suited her notions and 
best served her plans. She instigated and successfully 
carried out the slaughter of the Huguenots. Xow she was 
happy. She fairly ran wild in her expression and signs of 
joy. While she had not one word of pity for the few home- 
less children, whose parents had been cruelly slain by her 
orders. And Catherine was a Papal devotee. 

Philip, kin^ of Spain, went into an ecstacy of glee upon 
learning of the massacre, and gave a festal day to Madrid, 
and at same time he gave a handsome present to the mes- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


289 


senger who brought him the official report from Charles IX.,. 
and he sent to that ruler a letter of congratulation over the 
affair. And Philip was one of the most ultra Roman Catho- 
lic rulers in Europe. 

And now for the court of Rome. When the carrier reached 
Rome, with the news of the assassination of the great Ad- 
miral of the French nation, the death of six hundred of the 
Protestant nobles, and thousands upon thousands of the 
Huguenots, the Pope gave the most extravagant expressions 
of joy. He conducted a sewice of praise in St. Peter’s for 
the treacherous slaughter of the French Protestants. He 
considered that the work of Charles of France was a master 
stroke. He caused a medal to be struck off in commemora- 
tion of the event. And the Pope was a Roman Catholic, 
and at the head of the Romish Church. A cry rang through 
Germany. And Germany made it a cry of alarm and in- 
dignation. But Germany was Protestant. 

SILENT KEBUKE OF ENGLAND’S QUEEN. 

And England : The eloquent Fenelon was the French 
ambassadoi at the court of St. James. When he essayed to 
present the report to the throne. Queen Elizabeth rebuked 
the French governiixent by ignoring her ambassador. After 
keeping him waiting several days, she assembled the court 
to receive him. As he walked down the hall he beheld the 
queen, dressed in deep mourning, her ministers of state 
standing about her in solemix manner ; her eyes were bent 
upon the floor ; she neither ^jxtended her hand, nor rose 
from her throne. And Fenelon blushed because he was a 
Frenchman, and a Roman 'Cat tiofic. But Elizabeth was a 
Protestant. And by her tt*eatme the French minister 
at her court she risked a war wi . combined fleets and; 


290 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


armies of France and Spain. Her conduct was superb in 
its heroism, and magnanimous in its gallantry to an out- 
raged liberty. 

Measured by our standard of womanhood, Elizabeth was 
faulty. But as a queen, and the only Protestant monarch 
over a first class nation to be found in the world, and not 
knowing but she and her subjects were to meet the fate of 
the Huguenots for what she was doing, she faced towards 
Papal France with an imperial stamp of settled purpose on 
her brow, and the curl of a just contempt upon her lips, as 
she listens to the official statement of perfidious treachery. 

Elizabeth was the patron of art, the supporter of the 
Protestant liberties, and a friend of the open Bible and the 
greatest ruler then on a throne. 

So we see how there was rejoicing throughout the Roman 
Catholic world at the Papal occurrences in France. St. 
Bartholomew was justified in every Romish court, while at 
least two of the Papal thrones, and the court of the Pope, 
were accessory to that high act of insurrection against righ^ 
and life. Here is clearly instanced the way in whlx^ii de- 
bauchery, treachery and assassination were made defensible 
means in the policy of the Papacy. 

PROFESSIONS OF PAPAL LEADERS INSINCERE. 

Here appears, in the clearest light, the ground upon which 
we hold that the professions of ?apal leaders are to be dis- 
credited, and their assurances are to be doubted. The 
whole history of the Papacy shows that it is considered 
right to deceive, and lead iidividuals and nations into false 
hopes, in order to take them unawares. The Roman Catho- 
lic Church in the Unite 'States, if cut loose from the Pope, 
would soon be leave - ^ . "h spirit of American liberty, 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


291 


and would grow into a truly great American Catholic 
Church. But with the yoke of the Papacy about its neck, 
the spur of the Papacy in its side, and the doctrines of the 
Papacy in its heart, we must continue to mistrust it in the 
future, simply because, when the Church has been obedient 
to the Pope, she has always been found fickle in every 
treaty, and false to every truce. 

The Huguenots had received a terrible blow, and it would 
seem enough to crush them. But God had a work for 
them, and they rapidly recovered strength. Henry of 
Navarre became their leader. Charles IX. died within two 
years, tortured by remorse. The scenes of St. Bartholomew 
were before him day and night. He heard strange voices, 
consigning his name to infamy, and his soul to agony. 

A RELIGIOUS FARCE ANJ} POLITICAL BLUNDER. 

In fifteen years the throne was again made vacant by the 
death of Henry III. The Protestant prince, Henry of 
^^^varre, was the rightful heir, and he took the throne, un- 
der the Henry lY. He wearied of war, and to make 

peace with Catholic League, which had been furnished 
to crush the made a formal acknowledgment 

of Catholicism, aiT^ celebrated the mass. This proved a 
national misfortune, -is it was a religious farce. 

As a Protestant king,’ Henry would have reached great 
success. His title to thO throne was not disputed ; he was 
popular as a leader, loved AS a prince, and might have led 
the nation forward. When iHizabeth came to the throne of 
England, there was difficulty t,o find a bishop to crown her. 
All France, except the ultra Romanists, would have wel- 
comed Henry to the throne, wifhout the services of a 
bishop. The Huguenots were made o\f the stuff to build up 


292 


THE ROM AH PAPACY. 


a great nation. And if Henry had made France a Protest- 
ant nation, as he might have done, and without any violence 
to Catholic rights, he would now be enshrined in history as 
the savior of his country. If France and England had been 
leagued together, with Germany and Holland already 
Protestant, European civilization would have sprung for- 
ward much faster than it did ; while France would have 
been immeasurably elevated in morals and integrity, and 
the awful revolutions of the eighteenth century would have 
been prevented. 

The only measure of the throne, advantageous to the 
Huguenots, under Henry’s reign, was that of toleration. 
He enacted the edict of Nantes, and this was a great move 
forward. It was a royal act of indemnity for all past re- 
ligious views not pleasing to the Papal government. It 
marked the time when France cut loose from the Middle 
Ages and began her modern period. By it the Huguenots 
were granted liberty of conscience, freedom of worship, and 
their poor admitted to the hospitals. It was sealed with 
the great seal of green wax, to show that it was to be 'pgj.. 
petual and irrevocable. Henry lY. said to the paF’^iament • 
“ I have enacted the edict. I wish it to be j 

give you good deeds.” 

This was in the close of the sixte^^n^jj century The 
Huguenots at once became the industrial arm of the nation. 
By agriculture and manufacturinf . they pushed Prance to 
the head of the nations. The Hutvuenots are the moral mys- 
tery of modern history. They were the religious and polit- 
ical reformers of France. St./Bartholomew’s dreadful day 
could not drive their great faith from their warm hearts. 
When it was all over som«j one said to Anthony of Navarre^ 
“The anvil has worn oiit the hammer.” And so it had! 
The anvil was the pure, strong faith of these great-hearted! 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


293 


strong-breasted, simple-minded Huguenots, against which 
fell, fast and hard, the blows of persecution ; but the ham- 
mer wore itself out and the anvil endured. G-od preserved 
them, and then distributed them amongst the nations of the 
world, to act as a leaven of Christian faith, fortitude and en- 
durance. The providence of Grod was round about them, 
and his name has been glorified by them. 

CONSPIKACY OF THE JESUITS. 

Right in the midst of the prosperity to which they had 
raised the country. Papal France again appeared before the 
world with a suicidal policy. Although the throne and 
parliament had bound the nation to respect the edict of 
Nantes permanently, the Jesuits had come to power, and 
the edict of Nantes was revoked, after it had given glory to 
France for just one hundred years. 

Louis XIY. was king, and was a mere mouth-piece. He 
reigned for almost three-quarters of a century. He was 
dull" stupid, except when aroused by pleasure or pas- 
sion Hr*^ court was noted for extravagance, profligacy and 
absolutism au'^ especially for the reign of women, brilliant 
in wit and detesta^^Ie in morals. He was early married to 
Maria Theresa, daufe-'liter to Philip IV., of Spain, at which 
time he agreed to relin Tuish to her all claims to the throne 
of Spain ; bat this he th'^st aside within six years, when 
he attempted to seize on the Spanish Netherlands, and 
again forty years later when' ie seated his grandson on the 
throne of Spain. He was tan:ght by the crafty Mazarin to 
despise treaties, cultivate dis.^imulation, and break his 
promises, as policy should dictate. And Mazarin was a 
Papal statesman. 


294 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


PAPAL KIXG, AMBITIOUS WOMEN AND CRAFTY JESUITS. 

The king was abandoned to the rule of female ambitions 
and intrigues, and his treatment of women was without a 
show of devotion, or an instance of sincerity. He had one 
wife by law, and consorted with a dozen by intrigue ; prin- 
cipal among these in her relation to the Huguenots was 
Madame de Main tenon. She was the friend to the Jesuits 
and drove the king to religious intolerance. And through 
her influence and the power of the J esuits upon him, the 
king revoked the edict of Nantes. 

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ALL LOST. 

By this act the Huguenots were deprived of religious lib- 
erty and rights of worship. Churches were closed. The 
pastors were given ten weeks to leave the country. In case 
of sickness the Huguenots were not allowed a physician. 
They died as grandly as they lived honestly. No inge- 
nuity of torture could bring the most faithful to disown 
their faith. Gaining strength from Paul, they held 
right to repeat his lofty words : ‘ ‘ Who shall separat^-^^g f 
the love of Christ f shall tribulation or distress oy- persecution 
or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? iSTay, in all these 
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved 
us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, 
nor things to come, nor height, ror depth, nor any other 
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus our lord.’’ 

With such a view of tie situation they went to their 
death, and into exile. Tie provinces were rapidly depop- 
ulated, industry was arested, manufactories were closed 
and the nation’s comnerce was paralyzed. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


295 


But the Papacy did not know the leaven it was sending 
abroad by the exile of the Huguenots. They were the in- 
dustrial and manufacturing brain of the kingdom, and they 
took their industrial and inventive genius with them. Sev- 
enty thousand strong they went to England. They thronged 
into the North of Ireland, and helped to save that section 
from the spoiliug hands of the Papacy. The business 
created by them in England alone deprived France of ten 
million dollars a year. To them belonged the secret of 
weaving tapestries and making silk hats, and after the rev- 
ocation of the edict of Nantes the Cardinals of France had 
to send to the Huguenot factories of England for their silk 
hats. 

HUGUENOT LEAVEN IN THE UNITED STATES. 

They swarmed into Holland, and gave immense indus- 
trial wealth and power to Amsterdam, the queen of the 
Dutch seas, while they lined the Rhine with their great 
manufactories. In America they became sturdy yomen, 
greu^^' manufacturers, and unfailing patriots, and added 
powerfux^^y to the cause of liberty and prosperity in the new 
world Wh^'^^ Boston placed an embargo on the British 
ships in her pori;,'’ account of the tax on tea, it was 

a Huguenot who ^ public meeting that Feneuil 

Hall whicli has been s ’^ celebrated in the agitation of Ameri- 
can liberties. After thv^ battle of Lexington, Sonth Caro- 
lina was the first to fra.me an independent constitution. 
The president of that consiHt'itional convention was a Hu- 
guenot Frenchman. 

This is the type of a people \yhich cruel malice and hard 
persecution of the Papacy slaughVtered or scattered over the 
world. And the spirit of the PajAacy towards free Ameri- 

cans is the same as it was towards til e free Huguenots. As 


296 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


the Papacy is in no respect changed, as a system of doc- 
trine and rule, if it again gains the power it once had, it is 
hard to see how it can be anything else than what it then 
was. The common sense logic drawn from Papal history 
forces us to the view, that the Papal policy in the United 
States, is to be more and still more subversive and destruc- 
tive of everything which distinguishes a free people. 



/■ 


TO FRANCE. 


Forgive me, Freedom! 0, forgive these dreams ! 

I hear thy voice, hear thy loud lament. 

From bleak Halvltia’s icy cavern sent ; 

I hear thy groans upon her blood-stained streams 1 
Heroes, that for your peaceful country perished, 
And ye, that fleeing, spot your mountain-snows 
With bleeding wounds, forgive me that 1 cherished 
One thought that ever blessed your cruel foes ! 

To scatter rage, and traitorous guilt. 

Where peace her jealous home had built ; 

A patriot-race to disinherit 
Qj '^all that made their stormy toils so dear ; 

And witn' inexpiable spirit 

To taint the freedom of the mountaineer, 

0 France that heaven, adulterous, blind, 

Are these thy boasts, champion of human kind ? 
To mix with kings in th's low lust of sway, 

To insult the shrine of Liu'^erty with spoils 
From freedom torn ; to temi?i ^nd to betray ? 






7 ■ " 

Is THE Roman Church against ' . .. ,. 

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE AND 
OF THE PRESS ? 

From this polluted fountain of indifference, flows that 
absurd and erroneous doctrine, or rather raving, in favor 
and defense of liberty of conscience. Hither tends that 
most and never sufficiently to be execrated and detested 
liberty of the press, which some so loudly contend for cuid 
so actively promote. 

Gregory XVI., Encyclica'- of 1832 


) 

■ f 

/ 

/ 

/ 


PART IX. 


PAPAL OVERTHROW OF THE KNIGHTS TEMP- 
LARS. WHY THE PAPACY OPPOSES 
FREE MASONRY. 

Attention was called in a preceding section of this work, 
to the Roman Church suppressing the Knights Templars ► 
The action of the bishops, with the assent of the Pope, was 
so remarkable, it had an influence so opposite from what 
^^''s expected, it in part so accounts for the Pope’s con- 
tinuecL^ opposition to Free Masonry, and the act was one 
so Striking! diabolical, that a treatment of it in this place 
will be interest i* bears directly upon the purpose 
of this work. 

A study of the chro''Qicl®s of the dawn of the thirteenth 
century, brings out thc'^ fact that there were three great 
military orders, all conne'cted with the mission of the ex- 
tension, or defense, of Chrii_=itianity. There were the Temp- 
lars, the Knights- Hospitallei'^, and the Teutonic Knights. 

The first of these orders OvCcnpies our attention. The 
members were bound by the usval monastic vows of Pover- 
ty, Christianity and Obedience. It was a religious order, at 
first under rule of the Patriarch of' .Jerusalem, then under 
the Popes. (299) 


Is THE Roman Church against ' . ‘ 

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE AND ' ‘ 

OF THE PRESS? 

From this polluted fountain of indifference, flows that 
absurd and erroneous doctrine, or rather raving, in favor 
and defense of liberty of conscience. Hither tends that 
most and never sufficiently to be execrated and detested 
liberty of the press, which some so loudly contend for/ctud 
so actively promote. 

Gregory XVI., Encyclicat- of 1832 


PART IX. 


PAPAL OVERTHROW OF THE KNIGHTS TEMP- 
LARS. WHY THE PAPACY OPPOSES 
FREE MASONRY. 


Attention was called in a preceding section of this work, 
to the Roman Church suppressing the Knights Templars. 
The action of the bishops, with the assent of the Pope, was 
so remarkable, it had an influence so opposite from what 
^^‘'s expected, it in part so accounts for the Pope’s con- 
tinuea" opposition to Free Masonry, and the act was one 
^ V diubolical, that a treatment of it in this place 

will be interesu:’^g> "'hile it bears directly upon the purpose 


A study of thechro-nicles of the dawn of the thirteenth 
century brings out th.^ fact that there were three great 
military orders, all conne'cted with the mission of the ex- 
tension, or defense, of Chri.^tianity There were the Temp- 
lars the Knights- Hospitallei'-s, and the Teutonic Knights. 

The first of these orders o^ocupies our attention. The 
members were bound by the usnml monastic vows of Pover- 
tv Christianity and Obedience. 5t wasa religious order at 
first under rule of the Patriarch of' Jerusalem, then under 

the Popes. 


302 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


DIABOLICAL CHARGE BROUGHT AGAINST THEM. 

They were to fall under the strongest and most diaboli- 
cal accusation ever made against any set of men. Philip 
the Beautiful was king of France at the dawn of the four- 
teenth century. He was in war with England and Bur- 
gundy, and wanted money. He called on the clergy. The 
Pope forbid the clergy to pay. Philip called the Pope a 
fool. The Pope excommunicated Philip. Philip burned 
the bull. He made war upon the Pope, and took him pris- 
oner. In three days he died from grief and mortification. 
The Templars had supplied the Popes with money. This 
was their offense. The new Pope made the clergy do as 
Philip wanted. In another year there was another Pope, 
and he was a Frenchman. He was with the king, and the 
king was against the Templars. Up to this hour they 
seem to stand high. Two members had been condemned 
for some conspiracy. They sent word to the king they 
could reveal to him some terrible secret, and would do 
he would spare their lives. The king sent for ther ^ 
listened to a story, which seems quite incredible The st 
they told was this: The chiefs of the -^^der were not 
Christians even-the candidates upon be\ng admitted to the 
order were required to spit on the cr oss, trample on it and 
deny Christ-any one under suspicion of having a notion to 
betray the secrets was murdered^ and secretly buried— the 
members worshiped idols, cor .fitted fearful crimes-the 
chapter houses were dens of ■ dee. The specifications were 
yet more horrible in detail. This was a story exceedingly 
unlikely, when it is borne, in mind that hitherto there had 
been no whisper of sucdi enormities. Did the infamous 
bishops suggest this horrible tale ? 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


803 


INSTANCE OF PAPAL TREACHERY. 

The king wrote the Pope. The Pope wrote his intention 
of making an examination. There is a silence of a year. 
Then we find the Pope writing a letter to Grand Master de 
Molay, at Cyprus, asking him to come with his leading 
Knights, and have a conference with him about the state of 
religion in the east. There was no hint of the accusation. 
The Grand Master, without suspicion, packed his chests of 
money, requiring twelve mules to carry, and bore them to 
their vaults in Paris. He consulted the Pope. The council 
was of little importance. Another year and de Molay was 
suspicious that something was broiling. He had a talk 
with the Pope, who assured him the Holy See was satis- 
fied. It looks like treachery. The Templars felt secure, 
and were spread in their houses throughout France. In a 
few months, it was in October, 1307, the secret instructions 
of the king were sent in all directions, to arrest the Temp- 
lars on a given date. October 13th, at day break, they were 
dragged from their beds, and flung into the dungeons of the 
bishops. This was followed by a meeting of the prelates 
about Paris, two days later, which shows it was prearranged. 
An act of accusation, in accord with the story of the crim- 
inals, was drawn up. Philip sent letters to the courts of 
all the countries, where the Knights were located, told his 
tale, and urged them to follow the course of France. 

TORTURES OF THE KNIGHTS. 

Wasted with cold, starvation and sickness, the Knights 
were dragged before the tribunals, and were told the Grand 
Master had confessed to the hideous and diabolical things 
they were accused of. They were told if they agreed with 
this, they would be rewarded and dismissed. A few, and a 


304 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


very few, so confessed. Almost all declared the tale utter- 
ly false. Such were stripped of all clothing, with hands 
tied behind them, and a rope to their wrists, they were 
drawn np to a beam, and let down again, until senseless, or 
they said what the bishops wanted. If they stood this or- 
deal, their feet were fastened in stocks, rubbed with oil and 
fire built in front. Their toes dropped off, sometimes their 
feet. With some, the thumb screw was used ; with some 
the iron boot. Such as held out, and did not die in the 
torture, were returned to prison, to be again tortured wheu 
the Pope should please. 

In this way the Templars were condemned. The alleged 
declaration of the Grand Master and his leading Knights, 
is difficult to explain. It is not sure they made any such 
declaration, or if they did it was under a strain of terror. 
It is quite sure the Pope was not inclined to believe it. 

Then followed trials, persecutions and tortures for months. 
At last de Molay was brought into court. He was now old 
and infirm — the more infirm because of his prison treat- 
ment. His alleged confession was read to him. His con- 
duct is hard to explain, if he knew anything about it. He 
appeared completely bewildered. 

The order wrote no books, left no letters, and it is hard 
to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion. The principal 
reason for introducing here this queer chapter, connected 
with Papal history, is to show the method used by Homan- 
ism to rule all institutions and societies, or find some way 
to win them. To roast these human beings, even if the ac- 
cusation were wholly true, was such awful barbarism as we 
have not had among the most cruel cannibals of the Isle of 
the sea. And this was done. The Archbishop of Sens 
took one day fifty-four of these starving, tortured Temp- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


305 


lars and roasted them to death. Every one bore testimony 
to the utter groundlessness of the charges against them. 

SUPPRESSION AND CONFISCATION. 

The end came when a council of bishops suppressed 
them. They immediately scattered over the world. The 
Pope turned their estates over to the Church. 

It was March 18th, 1314, that the bull of suppression from 
the Pope was read to an immense multitude in Paris, be- 
fore which de Molay and his chiefs were brought. When 
he heard the charge, he cried with a great voice that it was 
false. De Molay and one of his chiefs were, the same ev- 
ening, taken to an island in the Seine and were burned. 
This would appear to give all the evidence necessary, that 
the Templars had been dealt with in an unjust, cowardly 
and inhuman manner. 

This is the story of the way in which the Papacy came 
to turn against Free Masonary. That intense hatred con- 
tinues in the Church. In some countries within the last 
two years, Roman Catholics have been ordered by the bish- 
ops to give no aid to a Mason, even when in hunger, thirst 
or sickness. 

The Papacy may yet have to settle with the world for 
this high crime against humanity. 


PAPAL INTOLERANCE SOLILOQUZES. 


"'Why, I can smile, and murder while I smile, 

And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart 
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears. 

And frame my face to all occasions ; 

ril drown more sailors than the mermaid shall ; 

ril slay more gazers than the basilisk ; 

I’ll play the orator as well as Nestor ; 

Deceive more slyly than Ulysses could. 

And, like a Sinon, take another Troy ; 

I can add colors to the Cameleon ; 

Change shapes with Proteus for advantages. 

And set the murd’rous Mechiavel to school.” 


Do Roman Catholic teachers 

JUSTIFY VIOLATIONS OF CIVIL 

LAWS ? 

Sapricius is accustomed to carry in his wagon, on his 
horse, or in some other way, wheat, wine, and other goods 
under toll-duty. He evades it whenever he can do so 
without fear of a fine, either in passing during the night 
by an out-of-the-way road, avoiding the custom officers^ 
or deceiving them by ruse. He does not think he is doing 
any harm, because the duty charged is considerable, and 
because the law which establishes it is purely penal. 

Has he sinned, and is he obliged to make restitution ? 

No. Gury. 


PART X 


DOWNFALL OF THE PAPACY IN GENEVA- 
DANGERS FROM PAPAL ILLITERACY 
IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Among the small states of the small republic of Switzer- 
land — in fact, the smallest but one — is the State of little 
Geneva, with the city of Geneva as the seat of local gov- 
ernment. This little State has an area of only one hundred 
and seven square miles, of which eleven and one-half are 
covered with water ; and yet this State has distinguished 
itself in originating and conserving liberties, and as being 
the home of a man who towers as high in Swiss history, as 
the Alps are high in the Swiss landscape. 

In the year 1509, while Zwingli was buckling on his 
armor in the more northern Swiss town of Glarus, and 
Luther had first opened his great movement at Wittemberg, 
John Calvin was born in the village of Noyon, France. He 
passed through his childhood amidst the glaring Papal 
frauds of the day. His early education was mostly di- 
rected by a private tutor, who had charge of the sons of a 
noble. 


( 308 ) 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


309 


CHILDEE^^ AS HIGH OHUROH OFFICIALS. 

In order to help bear the expense of his education, his 
father secured for him, when he was twelve years old, the 
position of chaplain in a small institution. It is indicative 
of the low and corrupt order of religion, which then pre- 
vailed, that the highest positions were not unfrequently 
conferred upon mere children. Here is a boy of twelve in 
charge of a religious house. France had a cardinal six- 
teen years old, and Portugal one twelve years of age. Aix 
had an archbishop five years old, and Geneva a bishop ten 
years old. 

His father intended his boy for the profession of law, 
which was then regarded as a high road to eminence. The 
boy repaired to Orleans, and afterwards to Bourges, to 
seek instruction of the renowned jurist, Alciot, whose em- 
inence and learning made brilliant his age. Calvin was 
charmed, and was soon a profound reasoner in law and pol- 
itics. The study of the law, designed by his father as a 
preparation for legal practice, was intended by Providence 
to be a great training for the work which lay before the re- 
former. That work was to be none other than a complete 
change of the constitutional laws of Western Europe. 
When that training had been sufiicient. Providence won 
him over to the sacred science of theology. 

HOW A HEALTHY REFORMATION IS PRODUCED. 

A man had been brought down from Germany to the town 
of Bourges to teach the Greek of Homer and Demosthenes ; 
but along with this he began to teach the Greek of another 
book. He had seen that book in the hands of Luther, 
changing the faith of Germany. He declared that in that 
hook was the answer to every question of moral and social 


310 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


duty, and the solution of all political problems. That book 
was the Bible, and Calvin soon took up with the views of 
the G-erman professor. He was soon deep in the waters of 
inspiration, wading about in search for the great truths of 
Scripture. 

Again is it to be observed, that it is from the Bible that a 
great Reformation was to spring. From. that book Calvin 
received the mighty avalanche of truth which he was to 
pour into Geneva. 

He repaired to Paris, and for a time addressed the meet- 
ings of a few pious people, who gathered in private homes, 
through fear of Papal interruptions. He prepared an ad- 
dress, in which he boldly demanded a reformation of the 
church, on the Gospel plan. He had to flee for safety. 
For a time he quietly lived in the country, devoting 
himself to study for two years, all the while watching the 
storm which was gathering, and the thunder-bolts which 
were being forged, to purify the religious and political at- 
mosphere. 

NOVEL PLAN OF FRANCIS I. 

Francis I. was king of France. It was determined to ex- 
terminate, so far as possible, all who broke connection with 
the Romish Church. Like the Roman Emperor Nero, 
Francis seemed to desire that all condemned by him should 
feel the keenest agonies of death. In Paris, on the same 
day, at six different places, six fires burned as many men. 
The method of death was both novel and cruel. The victims 
were fastened to a long swinging beam. This was swung 
round into the fire, and then withdrawn ; again swung in- 
to the fire, and withdrawn ; plunged again into the flames 
and withdrawn. The king passed by these six fires in suc- 
cession, and witnessed the scene without a sentiment of re- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


311 


gret. In the days which followed, young maidens, weak 
and delicate women, brave men and young children, half- 
roasted, sang their psalms and proved their faith. This 
was a moral astonishment, and it very deeply impressed 
young Calvin. 

Wandering from his native land, he betook himself to 
Basle, in Switzerland. He felt that the time had come when 
the Protestants of France should send forth a declaration 
of their faith, and a declaration of their views on the in- 
dependence of the conscience. 

He threw the doctrines of the Reformation into a theo- 
logical form, in a way to lay the foundation for the organized 
religion of the Huguenots ; and later of the Dutch, Scotch, 
and the Puritans in England and America. This treatise 
was a wonderful and profound condensation of the Scrip- 
tural system as he understood it. “Free and substantial 
wisdom principally consists of two parts, the knowledge of 
God, and the knowledge of ourselves.’’ This appealed to 
the Huguenots, and became their strong food. 

EISE OF THE GENEVAN KEPUBLIC. 

Passing through Geneva one day he tarried over- night, 
intending to continue his journey the next day. But it was 
not to be so. On that day, August 5th, 1536, two streams 
of providence meet, and a great epoch begins. The little 
Canton of Geneva lay within touch of almost every im- 
portant nation of Europe. It was a great opportunity 
which had unexpectedly ripened into notice. The day had 
come to organize, as never before, the high principles of 
human liberty. God had prepared the people, and they 
were ready. God had prepared Calvin, and he was ready. 

The journey he was on was relinquished, and for twenty- 
eight years Geneva was the theatre of his work. He was 


312 


THE ROHAN PAPACY. 


banished once, but he kept himself faithfully at work at 
the treadmill of his task. Geneva, having neither army 
nor territory, was to be elevated into a free republic 
by pure moral strength. It conquered as a city of the 
mind, a republic of thought ! It was a city of gray an- 
tiquity. We frequently meet with it in the writings of 
Caesar. It had long felt the throes of liberty ; but not un- 
til the sixteenth century did it see its way clear to throw 
off the Papal yoke. 

The Papacy was both tyrannical and corrupt in dealing 
with the people. At the time Calvin went to Geneva bishops 
and dukes were equally odious. The Genevese could no 
longer endure “Popes who were Caesars, nor Caesars who 
were Popes.’’ Under Calvin the strivings for liberty were 
to be realized in established freedom. He was to make 
Geneva the metropolis of the sixteenth century liberties. 
In his plan for a free Church and a free state, bishops were 
to give place to pastors, and dukes to give way to repre- 
sentatives of the people. It was a long stride in represen- 
tative government. 

ORIGIN OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

He laid deep and lasting one of the mud sills of intelli- 
gence in religious matters, when he organized for the 
Genevese a general system of education. This was the 
origin of our common school system. The Papal Church 
had not only done nothing for common education, but had 
opposed and finally destroyed a public school established 
in the fifteenth century, by a layman. Calvin believed that 
the Reformation had to live, and grow, and endure, by 
knowledge. And by his work, to give form to this belief, 
he stood in the very head light of the great intellectual 
movement of that century. The lasting effect of his system 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


313 


of education in Switzerland is shown by the general intelli- 
gence of the people of the Protestant states. There are 
now twice as many journals published in Switzerland, as in 
Italy, the land of the Popes. The public schools in the 
City of Geneva have 20,000 books in their libraries. The 
university of Geneva has 75,000 volumes, one-eighth as 
many as can be found in the extensive Congressional Li- 
brary of our own country. 

CIVIL LIBERTIES GUARANTEED. 

Under Calvin, civil liberties in Geneva became guaranteed. 
Prior to his day, those who wrought for liberty opened 
their own path to prison. To express a view not in favor 
with the dukes of Savoy, was to be hounded to the end. 
Bonnivard, the prisoner of Chillon, had declared that 
“there is only one tribunal that has power over the con- 
science, and that is heaven.” He had to spend six years in 
the underground dungeon of the castle of Chillon for say- 
ing it. Under Calvin, the daylight of fuller rights flooded 
Geneva ; the people were men of conscience and purpose, 
and the House of Savoy was driven beyond the Alps. 

PRODIGIOUS INFLUENCE OF GENEVAN LIBERTY. 

In liberty, religion, morals and intelligence, Geneva 
speedily had a reputation known of all men. “Never, 
since the last days of Israel, had any community been so 
completely regenerated and conformed to the ideals of 
morality, as was Geneva under the rule of Calvin.” The 
Protestant refugees flocked here, as they were driven from 
their own lands by persecution, and Geneva became a train- 
ing school, which was to scatter its seed all over western 
Europe. Churches were crowded ; students poured into 


314 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


the lecture rooms ; printing presses poured forth a hundred 
streams of liberty and religion ; while about every citizen, 
except the extreme Papal wing of the populace, became an 
active propagation of an new spirit and method of govern- 
ment. The effect was prodigious ! 

The theory of Christian doctrine, which Calvin took from 
Paul and Augustine, and elaborated into a system of Chris- 
tian life, moral duty, and civil functions, contributed im- 
mensely to the growing liberties of the period, and proved 
a death blow to the Papacy in many a corner of Europe. 
His view of the Christian system, in its relation to civil 
affairs, may be stated in a single sentence : The universal 
and eternal, general and specific sovereignty of God, upon 
the conscience, in the will, and in life, holds man true to 
the eternal truths, in relation to all things, and hence makes 
him free in those relations. As God alone is lord of the 
conscience, no earthly potentate can domineer over it ; hence 
men are free and equal. From this liberty, equality and 
representation had to flow. 

If a man’ s greatness is to be measure by the ever widening 
circles of his influence, then there can be no hesitancy, by 
fair judicial finding, in pronouncing Calvin one of the great- 
est men of the sixteenth century ; and it was a century of 
many very great men — Luther, Zwingli, Ursinus, Malanc- 
thon, Knox, Cramner. Calvin’s systematized thought, 
and mighty impulse upon religion, education and constitu- 
tional, representative government, throw all the others into 
an eclipse. 

TESTIMONY OF GEEAT MEN. 

The most learned and competent to judge have not been 
slow to render justice to the name of Calvin. Horner de- 
clares that Calvin was equally great in intellect and char- 
acter, lovely in social life, full of tender sympathy and 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


315 


faithfulness to friends, yielding and forgiving toward 
personal offenses, but inexorably severe when he saw 
the honor of God obstinately and malignantly attacked.’’ 
Theodore Beza, who knew him best, wrote : “Having been 
an observer of Calvin’s life for sixteen years, I may with 
perfect right testify that we have in this man a most beau- 
tiful example of a Christian life and death, which it is easy 
to defame, but difficult to imitate.” The famous Montes- 
quieu says : ‘ ‘ The Genevese should ever bless the day of 

his birth.” Hooker expresses the opinion that Calvin is 
“incomparably the wisest man in the French Church.” 
Jewel declares he is a “worthy ornament of the Church of 
God.” Henan, the skeptic, pronounces him the “most 
Christian man of his age.” Bancroft, the most reliable 
historian, as well as a most scholarly American, says : “He 
who will not honor the memory and respect the influence 
of Calvin, knows but little of the origin of American 
liberty.” 

INFLUENCE ON AMEEICAN INSTITUTIONS. 

Calvin’s influence upon the religious thought and insti- 
tutions of the American Republic, during our formation 
period, was greater than that of any other man. His teach- 
ings very largely entered into the establishment of civil lib- 
erty, on this side of the Atlantic. The representative rights 
of liberty as growing by nature out of man’s equality be- 
fore man, and his dependence upon God, first experimented 
upon in Geneva, under Calvin, impressed their claim upon 
the founders of our civil institutions. 

EELIGION SHOULD CONSERVE, NOT SUBVERT, CIVIL LIBERTY. 

The bearing of Calvin’s great work at Geneva, both in 
its direct and its remote influence, upon the world-wide 
movement against the Papacy, brings into consideration 


216 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


two of the most valuable truths. The Grenevese Reforma- 
tion brings them to the front as no other country does. The 
first of these great principles, now universally held, is that 
religion should be made to conserve and advance, and not 
subvert and oppress civil liberties. Rome had never been 
taught this until Geneva established, from religious mo- 
tives as well as municipal expediency, a free republic, and 
made the conservation of her liberties a part of the relig- 
ious duties of citizens. The Roman religion has always 
subjected civil laws and liberties wholly to the ecclesiasti- 
cal machine. 

ROMAN- PRIESTS AND NUNS NOT SUBJECT TO OUR LAWS. 

The Roman Catholic ecclesiastical law holds that because 
a person belongs to the ecclesiastical order, as a monk, or 
nun, such person should not be subject to the civil powers, 
except by the permission of the superior Church authority. 
This is the ruling of Satollifor the United States ; it is like- 
wise held in Smith’s great work on Canon Law. This idea 
of the inherent superiority of ecclesiastical over civil law, 
must inevitably erase the first principles of liberty from the 
breast, and place the mental operations wholly at the 
disposal of the priesthood. In our large cities in the 
United States, in the State Legislatures, and in the manage- 
ment of national legislation at Washington, the hand 
of the priest is too often laid upon the civil operations ; 
and this is the hand of the ecclesiastical boss, which 
is invariably accompanied with a threat. The man of high 
and honorable character does not take kindly to such priest- 
ly interference. He is told he is not wanted. So the mu- 
nicipal and state offices are at the mercy of unscrupulous 
and corrupt managers of the ecclesiastical power, who farm 
them out for what they are worth to the Church. All lib- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


317 


erties must eventually perish in our land if these Papal op- 
pressions are not overcome. When the Roman priest is 
active there can be no civil independence or purity. The 
Genevese solved the question by making religion serve the 
cause of liberty. If the Papacy is against freedom, then 
religion, which has no part with the Papacy, must be called 
upon to instruct and lead in the things which advance the 
civil rights and liberties of the people. Hence it becomes 
a religious duty, as well as a political one, to oppose the 
Papacy. 

RELIGION SHOULD PROMOTE, NOT RETARD INTELLIGENCE. 

The second great object lesson which was taught by the 
Genevese Reformation was, that religion should be made 
to promote, not retard intelligence. The Romish Church 
had destroyed the schools of Geneva. The Reformation, 
under John Calvin, not only established schools and placed 
them under the care of the state, but provided for all classes 
to receive instruction. Geneva had an educated citizenship 
second to none in Europe. The influence of the Protestant 
Reformation on the intelligence of the world has been most 
delightful, and greatly aided the general progress. 

PAPAL HINDRANCE TO EDUCATION. 

The baneful influence of the Roman Papacy upon educa- 
tion is universally deplored, as it is generally known. The 
Papacy is fatal to the intelligence of any nation. It is 
greatly to be lamented that it controls the consciences and 
hearts of such a large per cent, of our population, as it 
means a deplorable lowering of our general standard of in- 
telligence. As a system of education, that conducted by 
the Roman Church is calculated to retard and embarrass any 
broad and liberal enterprise of the mind. The generous 


218 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


thinkers in her own communion charge this fatal error upon 
the educational efforts of the Church. Mr. W. H. Manley, 
of New York, one of the laymen of standing in the Roman 
Church, in an article in the Independent.^ shows the logical 
failure of his Church to give anything like a liberal educa- 
tion to young men. In the course of this article he points 
out the wrong as a fundamental one in these words : “Not 
to men like Cromwell, or Jefferson, or Lincoln, are Catholic 
boys taught to look for patterns of life and conduct ; the 
writings of a Locke, a Goethe, a Whittier, or an Emerson 
are never recommended; but a professional beggar, like 
St. Benedict Labre, who cultivated vermin on his body 
out of sheer humility, is placed before them as a glorious 
model ; and they are earnestly advised to feed upon such 
literary productions as the life of St. Aloysius [‘the patron 
of youth !’] of whom it is on record that he never looked his 
own mother in the face, because of his surpassing purity. 
Hence the profound distrust of the young people, for any- 
thing in the line of literature or education having the offi- 
oial stamp of their Church.” 

ROMAN CATHOLIC ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The inevitable result of this Church, upon a nation’s in- 
telligence, is that of illiteracy proportionate to her influence 
und control. According to the Dublin Review^ the great 
Roman Catholic quarterly, the Church has made a miserable 
failure of University education in Ireland. As to what the 
Church does in common education in Ireland we can judge 
by the thousands of Irishmen in every large city in this 
land. Seventy thousand Italians came to the United States 
in 1806, and fifty thousand of them could not read or write. 
And yet education has progressed greatly in that country 


2 HE ROMAN PAPACY. 


319 


during the last twenty years, because of the growing power 
of the State in affairs of education. When the Church 
absolutely controlled education in Italy, eighty out of a 
hundred were utterly illiterate. 

Roman Catholic illiteracy in America is an ugly fact. It 
must be overcome. It can only be overcome by stopping 
Roman Catholic illiterate immigration, and forcing Roman 
Catholic youth, now in this country, into the public schools. 
And this should be done no matter what priest, bishop, or 
Pope may say. The whole hierarchical machine of the 
Papacy had better be destroyed, than to carry this process 
of lowering our educational standing, before the nations of 
the earth, any further. 


TO THE DUTCH MARTYR PATRIOTS. 


“ Stand ! the ground’s your own, my braves ! 
Will ye give it up to slaves ? 

Will ye look for greener graves ? 

Hope ye mercy still ? 

What’s the mercy despots feel ? 

Hear it in that battle-peal ! 

Read it on yon bristling steel I 
Ask it — ye who will. 

Fear ye foes who kill for hire ? 

Will ye to your homes retire ? 

Look behind you ! — they’re afire ! 

And before you see 

Who have done it! — From the vale 

On they come I — And will ye quail? 

Leaden rain and iron hail 
Let their welcome be ! 

“ In the God of battles trust I 
Die we may, — and die we must ; 

But 0, where can dust to dust 
Be consigned so well. 

As where Heaven its dews shall shed 
On the martyred patriot’s bed. 

And the racks shall raise their heads, 

Of his deeds to tell !” 


Does the Romish Church claim 

JURISDICTION OVER A COUNTRY 

WHOSE GOVERNMENT IS NOT RO- 
MAN Catholic? 

The secular power is directed, and the spiritual is com- 
manded, to teach and aid the secular in its duty, — to ex- 
terminate heretics. But if the secular power refuses, it 
is to be excommunicated and exterminated itself, and the 
country given to any Catholics who are able to conquer 
it. And to induce them to undertake it, all are promised 
the same favors and indulgences in killing heretics as in 
killing Turks or Saracens. 

Action of IV. Lateran (General) Council, Annals of 
Cardinal Barronius. 


PART XI. 


THE STRUGGLE IN THE NETHERLANDS; AND 
ROME’S GREATEST ACT OF DESPERATION. 

A strangely constructed country is that of the Nether- 
lands ; and a grandly brave and liberty- loving people in- 
habited the land of the sea. The low countries of the 
Netherlands were formed long after the world was created. 
Three great rivers come down from the mountains and in- 
terior of Europe, and for ages they unloaded their deposits of 
sand and slime among the sands of the ocean. These were 
the Rhine, the Mense and the Scheld. In the course of 
time immense formations of rich land were made. Great 
plains stretched out into the ocean, and which in many 
places were beneath the sea, . at high tide. Along the 
border of this formed land grew a belt of heavy woodland, 
which caught the sand drifts from the ocean, and the slime 
deposits from the rivers, and so formed a breastwork 
against the wild waves of the sea. These became known as 
dikes, and the country thus formed was spoken of as the 
low-land, nether-land, hollow-land, “Holland.” 

( 322 ) 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


323 


A EACE OF FREEMEN AND HEROES. 

A race of freemen and heroes grew up in this country. 
As the Rhine approached the ocean it divided into two arms, 
clasping the celebrated island of Batavia. There were none 
braver in all Europe than these Batavians. The ancient 
Roman empire found that among the very few races which 
would not be conquered, this Batavian race was most per- 
sistent in maintaining their independence. With this race 
she had to treat. When the Batavian soldiery entered the 
Roman service they became known, wherever moved the 
Roman troops. The Batavian cavalry became the most 
famous arm of the Roman service. They were the favorite 
legions of Julius Caesar, and gained him victory in the 
battle of Pharsalia. This independent, heroic race became 
mixed, by marriage, with the surrounding tribes of the 
I^'etherlands, and, so, with their blood, leavened the entire 
^etherland people with heroic and free qualities — a prepara- 
tion for the day when providence was to call them forth 
to do battle, for right and liberty, against the brutal cruelty 
and hateful tyranny of the Papacy. So God prepares, 
ages in advance, the co-operating conditions which are to 
unite in some great struggle for civil and religious liberty. 

The constitutional idea in government had common and 
high respect in the Netherlands. The rights of the people 
were never wholly surrendered. There was what was called 
the Great Assembly of the people, a sort of a popular con- 
vention. It was a favorite view that in this rested the in- 
dependent sovereignty of the nation. On this idea was 
placed the right of revolt, by the Prince of Orange, in his 
conflict to overthrow the despotism of Church and state. 

One reason why these Batavians were more inclined to 
throw off the supremacy of Popedom than many other na- 


324 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


tions, was, that from time immemorial, and before Chris- 
tianity was introduced, they held to the view of the ‘‘all- 
vater that is, that there was one Supreme, Almighty 
Deity. This made them wary about accepting the supreme 
authority of the Popes, even in religious affairs. It was a 
long period before they accepted the Papacy, even in a 
modified form. It was in the middle of the seventh cen- 
tury before a bishop was located in the country, and in the 
twelfth century some of the Holland clergy disputed the 
authority of the Pope, and all other Papal innovations. 

THE PAPACY DISPUTED IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. 

By the fourteenth century, the bishops had built up suck 
immense institutions and property possessions, which were 
free from tax, while their retainers would not go to war in 
defense of their country, that the civil princes began to op- 
pose further growth of the ecclesiastical power. In many 
of those ecclesiastical houses, shops were opened and con- 
ducted by the priests, who, because exempt from taxation, 
could undersell the legitimate merchants. This hurried 
the revolt. 

The temporal princes finally decreed, by right of being 
the sovereign representatives of the people, that ecclesias- 
tical institutions could acquire no more property, “by de- 
vise, gift, purchase or any other mode.’’ 

By the fifteenth century, the opposition to the Papal 
classes and institutions were greatly on the increase. The 
Duke of Burgundy declared the churches in his duke- 
dom should not be castles of refuge for fugitives from jus- 
tice. Charles the Bold laid heavy imports on all ecclesias- 
tical property. Rudolph Agricola, a mighty preacher, 
moved through the provinces, assailing the Papacy, with 
aU its hateful bigotries and false doctrines. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


325 


BIRTH CENTURY OF GREAT IDEAS. 

As the time drew near for the great awakening, the ideas 
•springing up in the countries about, found a welcome in 
the Netherlands. These ideas were such as pertained to 
the field of civil and religious liberty. Take a glance at 
them. 

When movable type was invented in the fourteenth cen- 
tury, it became easy to place the Bible in general circula- 
tion. But Borne objected to the Bible being in the hands 
of the people ; ‘‘it must be placed in all hands and diligent- 
ly searched,” said Luther. 

Borne promised heaven as a reward for penance, good 
works and the payment of money to the priest; “it must 
be won by faith and prayer, and a renewed spirit through 
Christ,” said Zwingli. 

Borne urged the advantage of a liberal purchase of the in- 
dulgences ; “all a delusion and a snare,” said Bucer. 

Borne made the order of the clergy a peculiar class, con- 
stituting them the only way of approach to Christ; ‘"we 
are all sons of God, and heirs of heaven, if we accept the 
Savior,” said Melancthon. 

Borne held the teachings of the Popes to give the full 
need of the soul ; ‘ ‘ true and substantial wisdom principal- 
' ly consists of two parts, the knowledge of God and knowl- 
edge of ourselves,” said Calvin. 

Borne taught the Pope was instead of Christ on earth ; 
“he, instead, is an odious beast, a Boman anti-Christ,” 
-said Knox. 

These were the ideas which were coming to the front, in 
the nations of Europe. They met with hearty approval 
amongst the honest Dutch. Holland was already half Pro- 
testant before the Beformation. Hence the pure doctrines 


326 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


of the Gospel, which poured in from the movements of 
Luther, Zwingli and Calvin, were but duplicates of her 
own ; but they wondrously strengthened her hands. 

It was intended that the great protest should be begun 
in other countries ; but it was reserved for Holland to es- 
tablish the right of that , protest in constitutional govern- 
ment. 

MOST BURNING QUESTION IN EUROPE. 

By the middle of the sixteenth century the Protestant 
Reformation was the most burning question in all Europe. 
In English Parliament and Castillian Halls, in German 
towns and French villages, men spoke of it with faces flushed 
with hope, or blanched with fear. In Germany, France, 
Switzerland, Holland, England and Scotland, it had passed 
from a shrinking, indefinite form of a mere hope and ven- 
turesome experiment, into the munificence of a gospel light 
and the magnificence of evangelical power. By the time 
the sixteenth century had half run its sands the Bible was 
generally read from the Rhine to the Thames. Before that 
open Bible earthly thrones sank into obscurity, and des- 
pots lost their crowns. It had been a hundred years since 
the invention of movable type, and a copy of the Bible 
costing in the fourteenth century a full five hundred dollars, 
could be had in the sixteenth for a few francs. In this Bi- 
ble the people of the sixteenth century found their long 
suppressed rights. Out of it they kindled the fires of their 
rightful liberties. And in it they read the doom of both 
kingcraft and priestcraft. In other centuries, princes sallied 
forth from motives of malice and ambition, or were mere 
adventurers of romance, or cavaliers of love. But in the 
sixteenth century all this was changed, and princes girded 
on their swords in defense of natural liberties, and became 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


327 


the true defenders of the pure Gospel. Among such were^ 
the elector of Saxony, the friend and protector of Luther, 
Admiral Coligny the Huguenot leader, and William the 
First Prince of Orange. Schiller was right, speaking in 
the time in which he lived, — the “sixteeth century was. 
the brightest of the world’s epochs.” 

REMAEKABLE PROGRESS OF THE DUTCH. 

And in this epoch, the Dutch Princes of the Netherlands 
played a glorious part in faith, persecution, endurance, 
heroism and final triumph. In the beginning of the six- 
teenth century, the Netherlands had attained to marvelous 
prosperity. Seventeen provinces covered a territory less 
than one-third as large as Italy. In this narrow neck of 
land three hundred and sixty cities of wealth and trade were 
crowded, and there were six thousand three hundred market 
towns of thrift and plenty. Antwerp was the commercial 
metropolis of western Europe. Her checks circulated from 
Pekin to London. The trade of Asia no longer poured 
through Italy and the passes of the Alps, to reach northern 
Europe, but by sea came around the Cape of Good Hope, 
and was distributed from the ports of the Netherlands. The 
wealth of the London merchants was made by the Dutch 
trade. The commerce of the Dutch scurried before the 
winds of every sea, and crept up every river from the Nile 
to the Hudson. The wonderful prosperity built up by this 
immense industry and trade was so justly distributed that 
the poor were so few, that to find a poor person was to create 
a sensation. The schools were so excellent that it was diffi- 
cult to find a child that could not read and write, and speak 
at least two languages. The influence of woman was broad 
and healthful. She was neither a toy nor a drudge. She 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


.:328 

mixed with, all classes and sexes, traveled alone, was self-re- 
liant, and was destinguished for beauty of face, form and 
dress. Her morals were as pure as her life was simple and 
generous. In education, morals and refinement, along with 
modesty, the Dutch women of the early part of the sixteenth 
century were the foremost women of Europe. A queen of 
Erance, on a visit to a Dutch city, exclaimed, “Really! 
I thought myself the only queen here, but I see six hun- 
dred others who appear more so than I.” - 

The immaculate linens, the beautiful silks, the renowned 
tapestries, sent from the looms, were equaled by the pro- 
ductions of the fine arts. The Dutch artists were the teach- 
ers of Angelo, and invented the art of painting in oil. 
Weaving tapestry, painting on glass, polishing diamonds, 
making sun-dials and watches, were all Dutch inventions. 

THE GEEATHESS OF ANTWEEP. 

Antwerp became one of the trade centers of the world, 
and this was to greatly serve to give Holland sympathy 
abroad, when she fell under the Papal ruin. In the Ant- 
werp port anchored ships heavily cargoed with both East 
and West India products ; in her warehouses were piled up 
the manufactures of the German towns to the north and 
cast ; under her thrifty spirit the English had been led to 
establish a factory, working thirty thousand hands ; her 
merchants’ exchange was visited by five thousand merchants 
daily, and was the first of these, now common, commercial 
establishments ; in her harbor above two hundred ships 
might have been seen unloading at once ; more than five 
hundred vessels were casting, or weighing, anchor daily, 
and sometimes the number approached a thousand ; above 
two thousand great wagons, heavily laden, came weekly 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


329 


from Germany and Lorraine. Ghent was of little less im- 
portance. Erasmus declares that there was “no town in 
Christendom to be compared with it for size, power, politi- 
cal constitution, or the culture of its citizens.” In the lap 
of such thrift, intelligence and stout courage, the Nether- 
landers advanced in liberty and constitutional ideas. It 
was a small land, but it was one of the most prominent com- 
mercial countries in the world. 

FELL UNDER A ROMISH WAR. 

And yet this little country, which, in the forenoon of the 
sixteenth century, was so mighty in industry, universal in 
trade, so high in prosperity, and so fortunate in the con- 
tentment and integrity of its people, was to be, by the mid- 
dle of the afternoon of the same century, drained by a 
Romish war, strangled by tyranny, and depopulated by 
persecution. And again, ere the night of that same century 
came in, it was to rise out of the general ruin, and without 
an army or treasury ; and while bereft of industry and de- 
spoiled of resources, it was at once to grow into one of the 
finest republics of the world, with the people secure in re- 
ligious liberties, and the yoke of Romish interference 
broken, never to be patched again. Once having parted 
with Rome, the Dutch would have no more of her. 

WHY INDULGENCES FAILED. 

The Dutch were too wise to ever be deceived by the 
sophistry which made the sale of indulgences such a success 
in France and Germany. And we have little account of 
this cunning scheme, to make money for Rome, being 
worked in the Netherlands. The Romish agents did not 
very urgently propose to forgive the sins of the Netherland 


330 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


people, for money, paid in advance. Yet to the extent to 
which it was worked, it was of the most abominable type. 
In the Netherlands, absolution for incest was offered for 
thirty-six fibres and three ducats ; that is about $6.66. A 
pardon was issued for perjury for seven libres and three 
carlines, being about $1.50 ; while pardon for murder, if not 
by poison, cost still less. There was an instance in 1448 of 
Henry de Monfort, purchasing ‘‘absolution at God’s tri- 
bunal,” as the record read, for parricide, at “one ducat, 
four libres, eight carlines,” or $2.30. But ecclesiastical 
authorities saw this shameless traffic threatened their very 
power in the Netherlands ; and because of this fact the 
trade of the indulgences was not pushed as in other lands. 

ADVEOT OF THE BARBAKOUS INQUISITION. 

And so it came, that the evil of infamous Rome broke out 
in another form. Brute force was used to whip the Dutch 
into compliance with Romish wishes. Persecution was to 
be the means, and the Spanish Inquisition the method. 

This peculiar mode of Papal justice, or rather Papal 
cruelty, deserves particular attention at this juncture, as 
it was in Holland that the use of the Inquisition was pushed 
to the greatest extremity. No device of man, or invention, 
of devils, could be better fitted to a policy of inhumanity. 
The very idea of the Inquisition makes justice utterly im- 
possible, and reduces truth to a mockery ; while under its 
practice religion is stripped of its sincerity, and conscience 
is despoiled of its highest right. The Roman Catholic 
Church must yet bear the whole infamy of this barbarous 
system, as she still maintains the right of the Inquisition. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


331 


ITS ORIGINAL INTENTION. 

What was the original intent of the Inquisition ? The 
principle of the Inquisition is found in the Roman Church, 
long before we meet with its organized form. As an organ- 
ized institution, or qualified tribunal to try heresy, it appears 
in the thirteenth century. It was the contrivance of the 
monk, Dominic, who was made the first Inquisitor General, 
by the Pope. Dominic was the founder of the Dominican 
order of monks, and had specially committed to them the 
Inquisition. The Council of Toulouse, in 1234, formally en- 
trusted the charge of the Inquisition to this order. In this 
early form it was instituted for the immediate purpose of 
suppressing the Bible readers in Spain, southern France, 
and the Piedmont country. 

The so-called Spanish Inquisition began in 1480, and was 
designed to destroy the Moors and Jews in Spain ; then it 
was directed against the Protestants. In the sixteenth cen- 
tury it was operated in conjunction with, if indeed it was 
not controlled by, the Jesuits. 

The Spanish Inquisition was peculiarly affected by the 
temptation for rich booty, secured by the confiscation of the 
property of those who were adjudged before the Inquisi- 
torial Court. The motive of Papal fanaticism was supple- 
mented in most of the monarchs by that of greed ; and when 
throne of Pope and crown of king found great riches pour- 
ing in, from confiscated properties, the reason for its use 
appeared very satisfactory to Rome. 

In 1483 the Dominican monster, Torquemada, was made 
Inquisitor General ; and under him it rapidly rose in power, 
and proceeded to terrify the nations. In the same year that 
Columbus discovered America, the Inquisition was let loose 
on the Jews, and as they were ejected from their homes,, 
their property was confiscated. 


332 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


FOUR MILLIONS SUFFERED IN SPAIN. 

A few years later the Inquisition fell upon the Moors, and 
then upon the Morescoes, as the Christianized Moors were 
called. Over three million of their wealthiest, most intelli- 
gent and most skilled were banished, perished in prisons, 
or murdered. In seventy years the population of Spain 
was reduced by means of the Inquisition from ten to six 
million. 

Charles V., at the instigation of Pope Gregory XI., 
became the first leading patron of the Inquisition in the six- 
teenth century. Through him a number of great prisons 
were erected in different countries, to meet the want of 
heresy hunting, among them being the Bastile of Paris. 

During recent years many defenders of the Inquisition 
have arisen. Such are Fr . AV ieser and the Innsbruck J esuits, 
who in their journal of 1877 expressed a longing for its re- 
turn to power. 

THE CHURCH STILL MAINTAINS IT. 

Graver still, it should be pondered by thoughtful men in 
this country, that the Canon Law of the Koman Church 
claims the “Inquisition of the holy office” as not by any 
means abolished in the Church. The latest and most ex- 
haustive work on Canon Law, issued by the authorities of 
the Church, says : “ The Holy See no longer sends special in- 
quisitors through the various parts of Christendom, for the 
purpose of trying and sentencing heretics, as was done 
formerly, yet it were incorrect to imagine that the discus- 
sion of the mode of procedure against heretics, peculiar to 
the tribunals of the Inquisition, is altogether useless at the 
present day, for bishops are still, in their respective dio- 
ceses, the inquisitors in matters of heresy, and are bound in 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


333 


their procedure against heretics to observe the peculiar 
formalities, or special form of procedure presented by the 
law of the Church for the punishment of crimes against the 
Catholic faith.” 

Powerful monarchs sat on the throne — Leo X. was Pope 
— Henry YIII., king of England— Francis L, the rival of 
Charles Y., was king of France— and while Charles Y. was 
being seated on the Gferman throne, Solyman ascended the 
Ottoman throne. 

CHARLES V., HEIR TO HALF THE THROHES IN THE WORLD. 

None of these potentates were so absolute as Charles Y. 
By birth, he was brought in the line of inheritance to the* 
most remarkable number of thrones which has ever befallen 
a prince of the blood in modern times. He was heir to more 
than half the thrones of the world. By the streams of in- 
heritance, which met in him, he was Count of Holland, 
king of Spain, Sicily and Jerusalem, ruler of Asia and 
Africa, and through Spain, of America, Duke of Milan, and 
Emperor of Germany. Because of this vast possibility of 
empire he was appropriately called the German Csesar. 

This over-much royal personage was himself of the Butch 
blood, and his course might have been lenient to his native 
country. But through his early life he was surrounded by 
unprincipled foes of liberty, as his advisers, who, in order 
to keep him in the paths of despotism, wrote out for him 
the ^‘Calf-slcin,'^^ and at fifteen had him sign it. In this 
document he was led to “threaten with condign punishment 
all persons who should maintain that he had sworn at his 
inauguration to observe any privileges or charters claimed 
by the citizens of Ghent,” his native city. By this means 
he was taught unfaithfulness to his sworn obligations and a. 
hatred for freedom. 


334 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


His will was absolute, and equally depraved. When de- 
pravity and absolutism meet in a ruler, the world must 
suffer. Charles Y. told the Dutch nobles that he hated 
their talk about privileges. He gave evidence of his hate 
for rights and charters. He established, at Brussels, a 
royal council, the members of which were his own minions, 
to review the acts of the national courts. He dismissed all 
native officials and filled the places with foreigners ; and 
this last policy is a favorite Papal notion. He imposed 
heavy and unheard of taxes. Contrary to the Dutch consti- 
tution, he dispatched a large assignment of foreign troops 
to march and countermarch through Holland. He involved 
the country in wars, without asking the country’ s assent. 

SETTING UP THE INQUISITION. 

And finally, and after the way had been well paved, he 
proceeded to overthrow the religious liberties of the coun- 
try. The sober conclusion is, that this depraved Papal 
ruler, Charles Y., Emperor of Germany, may be tracked 
through Dutch history, by his hateful laws and cruel edicts 
against the Protestants. A country never had a ruler, to 
the manor born, more set on a vindictive regime. His first 
-edict was in 1521, which ordered that “ all the disciples and 
converts of Luther,” of which there were many in the East- 
ern Netherland provinces, “are to be punished unto death 
and forfeiture of all their goods.” He introduced the In- 
quisition into the country to enforce this decree. At once 
the bloody work began. Within two years he forw'arded 
another edict, “forbidding all private assemblies for devo- 
tion, all reading of the Scriptures, and all discussion, with- 
in one’s own doors, about faith, or the Papal authority, 
nndiQv penalty of death , This was followed by an edict 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


335 


to ‘‘ hang, burn, bury and drown ’’ all who refused to obey 
the Pope. And then in 1535 he issued at Brussels, to please 
his sister, the infamous decree ordering, “repentant males 
to be executed with the sword; repentant females to be 
buried alive ; and the obstinate of both sexes to be burned.” 
And so for twenty years went on the imperial orders for 
Papal persecution. 

Under the regime of his Inquisition, terror took posses- 
sion of all classes. In the cities the shops were shut up, 
the noise of the market-place died away, treasures were 
hidden away, prices and rents dropped to almost nothing, 
and ships were deserted and left to rot. A sentence from 
the eminent historian, Schiller, will tell the whole story of 
the Inquisition Court, in the Netherlands, under Charles : 
“This abhorrent court proceeded to rage with the inhuman 
despotism which has ever been peculiar to it. And we may 
get an idea of its success in slaughter by the fact that dur- 
ing the reign of Charles V. fifty thousand persons perished 
by the hand of the executioners, for the sole crime of imput- 
ed heresy. ’ ’ Leading authorities most! y go beyond Schiller, 
and agree that there were fully one hundred thousand Neth- 
erlanders burned, strangled, beheaded and buried alive by 
his orders. The Yenetian ambassador estimated that dur- 
ing the last years of his reign, he had put to death no less 
than thirty thousand in Holland and Friesland. 

PAPAL CONQUESTS ON THE AMEEICAN CONTINENT. 

In October, 1555, Charles V. gave the reign of the Nether- 
lands over to his son Philip II., King of Spain, whose moth- 
er was a daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella. Philip was 
a Spaniard, cunning, cold, cruel, deceitful, after the man- 
ner of his Spanish ancestry ; at the same time he had the 


336 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


Austrian deformity of the lower jaw, as his father. Philip 
was one degree worse than his father. Charles Y. was 
ready to go to war for the Papacy, but he cared nothing 
for the Popes. Philip sustained the Papacy from liking, 
and the Popes from both religious devotion and political 
policy. It was under Philip II. that the southern countries 
of the American continent were conquered by Cortez 
Pizarro, and the greatest wrongs, connected with the coloni- 
zation period of our country, were perpetrated in the name 
of the Roman Church. 

Philip II. repaired to the Netherlands, boldly swore to 
preserve the rights, privileges and liberties of the coun- 
try, and entered upon his reign with two settled intentions ; 
one was the destruction of civil liberties, and the other, the 
overthrow of Protestantism. When he received a protest 
against the Inquisition in the Netherlands, he decided that 
the protest should be treated as rebellion. Then it 
was that Holland revolted. He at once re-enacted his fath- 
er’s awful edict of 1549, to hang, drown and bury alive up- 
on the first suspicion of heresy. No matter about the oath 
he took to respect the liberties of the people. He skulked 
behind that diabolical principle of Papal law, that the 
means is justified in the end. 

A FEMALE BEAST MADE EEGENT. 

Four years were quite enough to satisfy him that he 
could not rule Holland, by residing among the Dutch. The 
people had no room in their hearts, or in their country, for 
such a ruler. He returned to Spain, and left the rule in 
the hand of his sister, Margaret. This female beast, who 
was to be regent for twelve years, was distinguished for 
having married two nephews of the Popes, the first when 


THE ROM AH PAPACY. 


887 


she was but twelve years old, for wearing a mustache, and 
having the gout. She was a willing Papist, and a pupil of 
Loyola, the founder of the order of the Jesuits. 

Philip was bent on being the great ally of the Pope in 
the extermination of Protestantism. He had married, in 
1554, Mary Tudor, Queen of England. In three years he 
deserted her, when it was plain she could not bring forth 
a Spanish heir to the English throne. It was a Papal pro- 
vision for the restoration of the Pope’s power in England. 
The barrenness of the queen made this scheme a failure. 
Upon returning to Spain from the Netherlands, he again 
sought to trap England into the Papacy by attempting to 
marry Queen Elizabeth. England was in danger of becom- 
ing a support to the Protestants of the Netherlands. Hence 
this move in diplomacy. But it failed. 

TOO BRAVE FOR CA58ARS AND POPES. 

Philip so heartily disliked the spirit of the growing lib- 
erties of the Dutch, that he determined to enlarge the work 
of the Inquisition, and make it do in the Netherlands what 
it had done in Spain. “ What is law in Madrid, must be law 
in Brussels,” he exclaimed. But the Inquisition was ill 
adapted to a race, accustomed through long centuries to 
freedom of thought and action, and had a fame for bravery 
and daring which was sixteen centuries old. And this was 
a race that furnished the favorite troops of Caesar, and the 
most famous arm of the Roman legions— a race the Ro- 
mans could not conquer, but had to treat with. Papal 
Rome should have learned a lesson from imperial Rome. 
The Rome of the Popes should have heeded the warning 
of the Rome of the Caesars. Philip, the cruel king and 
blind bigot, and his sister Margaret, pupil of Loyola and 


338 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


regent of the Netherlands, could crush the Dutch, impov- 
erish and depopulate the country, but to destroy the liber- 
ties of such a race, was a consideration reckoned without 
any knowledge of the spirit of those liberties. 

And now the scheme to destroy Dutch Christianity in 
the interest of a corrupt Papacy was well laid and vigor- 
ously executed. Margaret obtained from the French king 
a proclamation to his subjects, forbidding them rendering 
aid to the Protestants of the southern provinces of the 
Netherlands. This was a measure against the Huguenots. 
She worked the Germans with her gold, and the German 
emperor with her intrigue. She was furnished with bishops 
by the Pope, and with the army by Philip. 

MART YE FIRES NEVER DIE OUT. 

Burning and hanging began in all parts of the country, 
and with a persistency never known before. The martyr 
fires never died out, and the martyr songs never ceased for 
twelve years. Margaret was tired out, and began to see 
that so long as there was a Dutch Protestant in all the land, 
there would be undying opposition to the Papacy. She re- 
linquished the regency, returned to Sjjain, and was super- 
seded by a Governor- General. 

Philip now determined to supplement the Inquisition 
with two additional helps. One was the sword. He placed 
a large Italian and Spanish army under Alva, the newly 
appointed Governor- General, one of the most cruel Papal 
generals of the age, and sent it over the border. At the 
same time he induced the Pope to provide more bishops for 
that country. The Pope was agreeable, and issued a bull, 
authorizing Philip to increase the number of the Nether- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


339 


land bishops from four to eighteen. These were foreigners, 
appointed by Philip and confirmed by the Pope ; each 
bishop was to co-operate with the Inquisition in his diocese. 

“the couet of blood.‘ 

Alva entered Holland with a record of blood and a 
heart of brass. He had unlimited powers to extirpate the 
reformers. He established a tribunal, which was soon 
known as the “Court of Blood.” Without sympathy of 
heart, feelings of pity, or considerations of expediency, he 
put to death with the most unrelenting cruelty. Every 
right of the people was abused, and every privilege was 
totally annihilated. He ran the Inquisition in a way to 
startle Europe. Hundreds were killed in a day. Fifteen 
hundred were hung in one town, at one time. Men were 
stripped to the waist, flayed until the skin hung in ribbons, 
and then droves of infuriated bees turned loose upon them 
to torture them to death. If the people confessed that they 
read the Bible, and prayed without a priest, they were 
burned in a slow fire. If they merely had suspicion cast 
upon them, they were to be dealt with mercifully, and 
buried alive. That was Alva’s conception of mercy. It 
was the most iniquitous, wholesale and indiscriminate 
slaughter, in a time of peace, revealed by history. The 
judges of Alva’s “Court of Blood” often sat seven hours 
a day, passing sentence with cool and astonishing rapidity. 
The very atmosphere had the odor of the grave. Trade it- 
self emigrated to England. Thirty thousand refugees fled 
to Elizabeth for protection. It was afterwards found that 
two-thirds of the population of Canterbury were Dutch 
refugees. 


340 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


A PAGE FROM THE “BLACK BOOK.’^ 

The terror and infamy which such an institution could 
work in a country,, are easily understpod by a glance at a 
page of the Black Book, which was discovered in 1848, 
when the Inquisition office was rifled by a mob. Bearing 
upon the manner of a process in the Inquisition Court,, we 
read these words : “ Bodily torture has ever been found the 
most salutary and efficient means of leading to spiritual re- 
pentance. Therefore the choice of the most befitting mode 
of torture is left to the judge of the Inquisition, who deter- 
mines according to the age, sex, and constitution of the 
prisoner. He will be prudent in its use, always being mind- 
ful at the same time to procure what is required — the con- 
fession of the delinquent. If, notwithstanding all the 
means employed, the unfortunate wretch denies his guilt, 
he is to be considered as a victim of the devil, and as such 
deserves no conpassion from the servants of God, nor the 
pity or indulgence of the holy mother Church : he is a son 
of perdition. Let him perish, then, among the damned, 
and let his place be no longer found among the living.” 

In connection with this astounding page from the Black 
Book, we place a description of the manner of torture under 
direction of the Inquisition Court, as given by the learned 
and careful historian. Motley : “The torture took place at 
midnight, in a gloomy dungeon, dimly lighted by torches. 
The victim — whether man, matron, or tender virgin — was 
stripped naked, and stretched on the wooden bench. W ater, 
weights, fires, pulleys, screws, all the infernal apparatus by 
which the sinews could be strained without cracking, the- 
bones crushed without breaking, and the body racked ex- 
quisitely without giving up its ghost, was there put in 
operation. The executioners, enveloped in black robes 


THE BOM AN PAPACY. 


341 


from head to foot, with eyes glaring through holes cut in 
the hoods which muffled their faces, practiced successively 
all the forms of torture which the devilish ingenuity of the 
monks had invented.” 

NOW COMES WILLIAM OF OEANGE. 

Now is the crisis ! Now is to dawn a glorious epoch in 
the growth of civil and religious liberties ! It is a sublime 
day. Only God could save the land. He had his man. 
Hehold him in the Prince of Orange. He was truly a noble 
prince, a worthy man, a just character. Some one has said, 
he is the only ruler in the world’ s history who ‘‘ may fairly 
be compared with Washington.” His mother was a devout 
Lutheran. Among the mothers of great men should be re- 
membered Juliana, the mother of William of Orange. She 
gave her children that devotional character which was her 
own strong characteristic. Letters from her pen to her five 
illustrious sons still exist. They are among the very gems 
of the devotional literature of the ages. In their hours of 
anguish and suffering, amidst dangers and wars, the most 
frightful of their century, as they were little children at the 
knee, this woman of royal heart as well as royal blood, 
wrote them, ‘^to rely always, in the midst of trials and 
dangers which were to beset their paths through life, upon 
the great hand of God.” How much they were indebted, 
and the world still is, to the faith and prayers of this holy 
mother, God could alone disclose. 

William of Orange could boast of an ancestry of many 
noble qualities, as well as of ancient lineage. He was the 
heir of sterling qualities, which, for centuries, had distin- 
guished the House of Nassau. William of Orange was born 
at Dillembergh Castle, in Nassau, on the 25th of April, 1533. 


342 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


He was to stand midway between Wyclif of England, the 
old, and Washington of America, the young ; and he was 
to connect the work for religious liberty of the former, to 
the equally glorious work of the latter for civil liberty. 
He was in his eleventh year when William, Prince of Hene, 
fell in the battle of St. Dizier, and having no heirs himself, 
left the title to all his principalities, to his cousin, William 
of Orange, with the title of William the Ninth of Orange. 

Immediately this young prince, who had so suddenly 
fallen into the possessions of much wealth and many prin- 
cipalities, became the object of solicitude on the part of 
Roman Catholic leaders. Charles Y. the Emperor, con- 
ceived great interest in his future. It was determined he 
should be taken to Brussels and educated as a Roman 
Catholic prince. He must be thrown into the whirlpool of 
luxury, pleasure and intrigue. 

LEARNING PAPAL SECRETS. 

The House of Orange had done a great deal for Emperor 
Charles Y., so it is not strange that we should see young 
William IX., Prince of Orange, when he was fifteen, page at 
the German court. Here he spent some nine years, in con- 
fidential intimacy with the court, witness of the daily in- 
trigues of diplomats, listening to grave discussions, study- 
ing the leading men of the day, familiar with all the secrets 
of the court ; and so the young prince rapidly developed a 
remarkable tact and knowledge of men and affairs. 

The school of experience was giving him valuable powers 
for future use. The Emperor sent him on royal missions, 
and entrusted him with confidential commissions. He was 
a party to a French treaty, and was left as a hostage in the 
keeping of the French king, to insure the terms of the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


343 


treaty. At Paris he soon became as familiar with what was 
passing on the chess board of the French court, as with 
that of the German. He became a companion of King 
Henry II. It was taken by the king, that as William was 
an attache of the German Court of Charles, he was in sym- 
pathy with the intentions against the Protestants. One day 
while hunting with the prince in the forest of Vincennes, 
the king unbosomed, in a confidential way, the murderous 
plot designed against the Protestants. William listened to 
the king as he told the whole story of the plan to which 
himself and Philip were committed. It was none other 
than the massacre of the Protestants of France and the 
Netherlands. In order to accomplish it, the Spanish troops 
must be kept in the Netherlands. The French king was to 
abet the Spanish king in exterminating the Netherland 
Protestants, while Philip was to aid Henry in destroying 
them in France. Prince William was only twenty-six, but 
he had the tact of a statesman and the quick wit of a dip- 
lomat, and he listened attentively, respectfully, to this dia- 
bolical revolution of projected crime and conspiracy — lis- 
tened, and spoke not a word, or permitted a symptom of 
surprise to mark his manner. And from this episode he 
became known as William the Silent. 

THE NIGHT VOW IN THE SILENT FOREST OF VINCENNES. 

And at this time the prince was still a Roman Catholic. 
That night, in the silent forests of Vincennes, he forms the 
high resolve to thwart that dreadful plot of the two kings, 
and to save his country from the murderous intent of his 
country’s king. He shortly withdraws from the Court of 
the German Emperor, and goes to his native country to 
make that land the Thermopylae of the Reformation. 


344 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


This Prince of the Orange race had the blood of his sires 
in his veins. Intrepid as he was just, his course once de- 
termined upon, he knew no surrender of rights which could 
be justified ; nor did he see any event which should change 
his course excepting death. His country was in a most dis- 
astrous condition, and in fact almost depopulated. He 
became teacher, leader, general and man-of-all-work for the 
recovery of the liberties and charter privileges of his coun- 
trymen. When the appalling news spread over the land, 
that the order of Philip was out, that the edicts of the In- 
quisition should be published in every town and village, 
the Prince of Orange, who was sitting at the council board, 
said: ‘‘We are about to witness the most extraordinary 
tragedy that has ever occurred !” 

ATTEMPT TO BRIBE HIM. 

Philip II. sought to procure the services of Orange by 
favors and offers of wealth and honor. But Prince Wil- 
liam was already one of the wealthiest men of his day ; and 
as for honor, be it said to his lasting fame, that he made 
his country’s glory his greatest honor. Failing in his at- 
tempt to bribe, Philip became busy in devising a way to as- 
sassinate the prince, “who had bewitched the whole peo- 
ple.” It was in 1580 that Philip’s ban was made public. 
It had been done by the Papal hireling, Cardinal Granville, 
and pronounced Orange to be a traitor, outlaw and mis- 
creant, offered twenty-five thousand crowns for his assas- 
sination, and promised the murderer pardon for any crime, 
and the choice of any title and possession of nobility. This 
was a time when the Jesuits were learnedly advocating as- 
sassination, as a measure of political and ecclesiastical ex- 
pediency and moral right. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


345 


AN INFAMOUS HORDE IN THE UNITED STATES. 

It is by no means certain that the nineteenth century 
has not witnessed many instances of public men, and some 
of them as good as great, who have been assassinated by 
Jesuit instigation. Men who have observed closely the 
drift of events, feel morally sure that the power behind the 
known circumstances of many a dark political crime, is 
Jesuitism. The people of the United States will never be 
delivered from the Jesuit menace until the last member of 
the infamous horde is banished from the land. 

The Prince of Orange, with rare skill of statesmanship, 
planned a policy in the interest of justice and humanity, 
which contemplated the overtljrow of the foreign rule, po- 
litical and ecclesiastical, the establishment of his country’s 
government, on a basis of constitutional liberty. There 
was a three-fold purpose which was in the immediate front 
of his plan — the assembling of the states-general, the ab- 
olition of the Inquisition edicts, and the formation of a gen- 
eral council of state. ‘ ‘ This achieved, ’ ’ said William, ‘ ‘ and 
I defeat the absolute policy of the Spaniard, and lift the 
council of state into supreme control — make it dispenser of 
justice, holder of the public purse, and agent for foreign 
affairs.” 

INFAMOUS DECEPTION. 

Margaret, who at this time was regent, became alarmed 
at this role, and at once wrote to the king that he must be 
prepared to make concessions, or move a greater army into 
the country. The king replied, that he would consent to 
the abolition of the Papal Inquisition in the Netherlands, 
and would substitute the Episcopal power of the bishops. 
Pour days later he wrote another letter forbidding her to 
consent to a meeting of the states-general ; yet directing 


346 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


her to lead all to imagine that it would soon be convened. 
He bade her in the meantime to prepare for war, and he 
transmitted to her three hundred thousand gold florins, 
with which to secretly recruit an army. Then he wrote to 
the Pope: “That as for the abolition of the Inquisition, 
it cannot be abolished without the consent of the Pope, by 
whose authority it was established.” It was a flne Papal 
maxim, that “ no faith is to be kept with heretics.” What 
dissembling, treachery, perfldy! 

The secret preparations for war were known to William. 
He saw they must be met. He collected an army of patriots. 
Infused the ranks with his own views and enthusiasm. 
But the army of Alva was in the country. It was absolute- 
ly perfect in equipment and discipline, though it had a con- 
tingent of two thousand Italian prostitutes, enrolled and 
drilled as the other troops, and who in march and battle 
were obedient to orders. William’s impromptu army 
would have more than matched Alva’s veteran ten thous- 
and, but for a successful move of the Papal intriguers. 
Horn, Egmont and Straalen, the two former leading states- 
men, and the latter a wealthy burgher, were led by fine intrigue 
into lonely rooms and quiet streets, and made prisoners 
and thrown into dungeons. Upon them William depended 
greatly. Now they were held to await their torture and 
death. To be sure, both Margaret and Philip had given to 
these notables full pardon for whatever offences they 
might have committed. They had trusted these assurances 
of their regent and their king. But they did not know 
that Philip had reported to the Pope that his pledge of 
good-will and pardon was not meant, and that the Pope 
had absolved him from all obligations to his subjects. 
This was the device of Alva, who secretly afterwards per- 
formed an act of unparalleled tyranny, by issuing the order 


THE ROM AH PAPACY. 


347 


forbidding all Netherlanders, of whatever rank or position, 
to marry without his consent, under penalty of death and 
confiscation of property. A more hateful show of Papal 
despotism is not to be found in modern annals. 

Defeat after defeat fell to the lot of the valiant prince. 
The world was against him. The intrigues of the French 
Court, the tyrannies and money of Philip, the instigations 
of the Pope, the mercenaries of Germany, purchased with 
the gold of Alva — these were the external foes ; while not 
a friendly ally could he muster, until after the execution 
of Egmont and Horn. 

GOD ALONE WITH HIM. 

The God of Heaven alone stood by the Prince of Orange. 
He had announced his adherence to the Reformation, be- 
lieved there was a final purpose of providence to be reached 
by the struggles he was engaged in, kept a serene trust, 
and exercised a steadfast faith. In a dark hour he wrote- 
to his brother that he “had prayed for strength to do all 
things, still proceeding with his work with his Almighty 
aid.” 

The despicable killing of Egmont and Horn awakened 
many of the German princes, and taught them that the Pa- 
pal tyranny was coming dangerously near. 

The elector of Bavaria, Agustus of Saxony, and many 
others, gave their influence to the patriotic cause as against 
the Romish tyrants. 

But the period was still gloomy enough for William. 
Those whom he associated with him were either executed 
or had fled ; his own estates were mostly confiscated ; his 
son was in prison, a large fortune was awaiting any miscreant 
who would kill him ; still he does not lose confidence in his 
cause. As the two first expeditions of Orange had failed 


348 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


and his German army was disbanded, and about twenty of 
the Netherland nobility had been killed by Alva’s Bloody 
Court of the Inquisition, the whole country shook before 
the relentless wave of Papal cruelty. Not a hand was 
raised to defend the hearth, the religion, or the liberties of 
the country. Not a florin of money did any one dare to 
send William; yet he was not discouraged. Such a spirit 
was positively sublime. 

PLOTS TO ASSASSINATE. 

The plots thickened against his life. Some of them were 
as diabolical as any we meet with in Papal history. They 
indicate the last departure of all moral restraint from the 
heart of a Papal ruler, when an end is in view and dark 
crimes afford easy means. One day as the prince was leav- 
ing his dining-room, where he was entertaining some friends, 
a young man approached him with a paper to examine. As 
he took it, the wretch drew a revolver and discharged it 
quite close to the head of the prince. It was thought the 
shot was fatal. But it was found that there was a faint 
chance, and his adherents mingled hox)e with their despair. 
It was remembered that ten years before, France had a 
Bartholomew, which had begun with a like shot fired at 
Prince Coligny. Parma was now the Governor of the Neth- 
erlands. He was assured that Orange was dead, and at 
once he issued an invitation to the country, calling upon 
all, now that the tyrant was dead, to return to their allegi- 
ance to the forgiving Philip, and to the holy Inquisition. 

THE POPE ACCESSOEY TO MURDEE. 

But the prince was not dead, but slowly recovered. In 
the meanwhile the assassin’s person was carefully searched, 
and the proofs of a Spanish conspiracy were conclusive. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


34 ^ 


On his person were found Spanish bills of exchange to the 
amount of two thousand, eight hundred and seventy seven 
crowns, and written prayers, invoking the Virgin Mary 
and the angel Gabriel to aid him in the accomplishment of 
the deed, and in which he bribed them with promises of 
large presents at their shrines if he got off safely. It was 
found that this man, Jaureguy, was in the employ of 
Anastro, a Spanish merchant, who had engaged with Philip 
to have Orange murdered, for which he was to receive 
eighty thousand ducats, and the cross of Santiago, for his 
crime. This bargain was signed with the king’s hand, and 
bore his seal. And Philip II., be it borne in mind, was a 
faithful Papal king, in intimate intercourse and obedient 
accord with the Pope. Is it reasonable to suppose that the 
Pope knew nothing about this arrangement of Philip, to 
assassinate the most-feared man in Papal Europe at that 
hour, with the exception of John Knox ? If the Pope 
knew it, and did nothing, he was accessory to it, and then 
he was guilty of murder. 

The Prince of Orange raised money on his credit, re- 
cruited an army in Germany, which was rendezvoused un- 
der the eaves of the old monastery of Komersdorf, in Treves. 

SCHEME TO MUEDER THE ENGLISH QUEEN. 

Twenty-eight thousand troops marched westward. Alva 
slowly decamped, maneuvered, and would not give battle. 
He adopted the policy of wearing out and freezing out the 
patriot army. He succeeded. The winter came on, and the 
army was without clothes, provisions, or money; while 
Alva’s army was so intrenched in the walled cities that no 
help could be had from that source. In two months William 
had to recross the border and disband his army at Strasburg. 
It was about this time that the scheme to murder the 


350 


THE BO MAN PAPACY. 


English queen was reported to Alva, and had his support. 
The Pope had prepared the way, by his bull of excommuni- 
cation against Queen Elizabeth, and absolving the Koman 
Catholic lords from their allegiance to the queen. The 
archconspirator was a Florentine by the name of Eidolfi, 
who flew incessantly from London to Madrid, to Rome, to 
Brussels, back to London. Philip wrote a confidential 
message to Alva, commanding him to give the conspirators 
all the aid in his power, acting with secrecy and decision. 
Philip said: ‘‘The end proposed is to kill, or to capture 
Elizabeth, to free the queen of Scotland, and set on her 
head the crown of England. Be ready to throw six thou- 
sand arquebusiers into England, two thousand into Scot- 
land and two thousand into Ireland, the instant the blow 
is struck.’’ To this letter Alva replied : “I highly applaud 
you for this plot.” The plot failed, because it was dis- 
covered by an agent of the English government. 

That the Pope was in full accord with the way in which 
the Papal agents in the Netherlands concerted and labored 
to assassinate rulers and overthrow liberties, is seen by his 
course. He sent Alva a present of a jeweled hat and sword, 
and Grranville a red hat and tabard. 

SUCCESSFUL APPEAL TO PATKIOTS. 

William by this time had spent his last fiorin, and ex- 
hausted his energies in the cause of liberty, and was watch- 
ing, planning and praying. He addressed an appeal to the 
patriots of his country, which was enthusiastically received, 
responded to, and bore fruit in a secretly collected fund of 
ten hundred and sixty guilders. Additional aid was 
offered, and William determined this time to make the 
northern provinces the scene of a great patriotic demon- 
stration and military advance. This effort proved abortive. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


351 


Orange was still determined. In liis unfailing courage and 
endurance, he invented new means. He was now bent on 
transferring the struggle to a more suitable field for the 
Dutch — ^that is, to the sea. 

THE WILD CORSAIRS OF THE SEA. 

A fleet of Dutch corsairs, consisting of twenty-four vessels, 
had been preying on Spanish ships, on the high seas. They 
put into port on the English coast. The English govern- 
ment was about to have trouble with Spain on their ac- 
count, and Elizabeth ordered them off the English coast. 
De la Marck was at the head of this queer group of vessels. 
He immediately hoisted sail, without any destination in 
view, except to scud in whatever direction the wind should 
waft him. When fairly at sea this wild corsair, who had 
sworn, after a custom of the Batavians, that he would not 
cut his hair or beard until the death of his cousin Egmont 
had been avenged, discovered a convoy of Spanish ships 
under sail for Antwerp. This suited the avenger of the 
seas right well, and he hung upon the enemy’s ships all the 
way through the channel, and into the Dutch waters, dis- 
abling some of the ships, and even capturing two of them. 
Hailing low in supplies, la Marck put into the Mense, 
opposite the city of Brille. The ferryman, who plied his 
boat between Brille and a neighboring village, sighted the 
fleet, landed his passengers, and rowed up to the wild col- 
lection of privateer ships. He was soon returning, bearing 
a message to the city authorities. ‘‘ How many are there 
of them asked the magistrates. The ferryman was a 
friend of liberty, and seeing a chance for the cause of the 
country, he drew on his imagination to at least a reasonable 
extent, and to make a strong impression, he guessed “there 


352 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


might be five thousand in all.' ’ In two hours the city had 
surrendered to la March, as Admiral to the Prince of 
Orange. 

The only outrage committed was, that thirteen monks 
were compelled to drink the cup of poison mixed for the 
Protestants. This brought some sense of caution to Alva. 
He had Just made out a list of eighteen principal merchants 
in Brussels, who were slow in giving him the money he 
wanted. Handing this list to the hangman he said, “See 
to it that each and all of these stretch hemp at dawn to- 
morrow from their own sign-posts.” At dawn the soldiers 
were under arms, the hangman stood with rope in hand, 
when suddenly a courier from Alva stopped proceedings. 
He had Just learned of .the affair at Brille. 

A pateiot’s last eesolve. 

The tide had turned, and it was a time for a different, 
line of action on the part of Alva. He hurried forward ten 
companies of veterans, under an experienced general. This 
veteran Spanish troop appeared before the walls of Brille. 
To their summons to surrender a defiant answer was made. 
The town was situated on an island in the lower mouth of 
the Mense. The Spaniards were permitted to cross from 
the mainland in boats, and without opposition. Their can- 
non were unlimbered, and the galling shot about ready to 
pour forth, when a patriot, with ax in hand, swam to the 
sluce-gate of the dyke, which kept the ocean at bay, split 
it in pieces, and in an incredible short time the island was 
inundated. At the same time, other heroic men were en- 
gaged in cutting adrift and setting fire to the boats, by 
which the foe had crossed from the mainland. The terrible 
fire of the fort vomited upon them at the same time. The 
army was completely appalled. The defeat was one of the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


353 


most complete of the whole war. A few, led by the com- 
manding general, swam and waded streams and marshes, 
and appeared in miserable condition before the gates of 
Rotterdam. This general was Bossu, a typical Papal offi- 
cer whose sense of honor and weight of word alike were 
small. His men were in such distress, and he pleaded so 
hard for permission to pass peacefully through the city, 
that the magistrates acted on their feelings of humanity, 
and consented to the terms Bossu so warmly promised. 
They were to march a corporal guard at a time, with un- 
loaded guns, directly through the city. These terms Bossu 
signed and sealed. His words were words, and nothing 
more. No Papal official, civil, military or ecclesiastical, is 
to have any credit attached to his word, oath, pledge, or 
agreement whatever, if it is known that he is a strictly loyal 
and obedient Roman Catholic. Bossu had no sooner led 
his first squad within the gate, than, overcoming the burgher 
guard, they admitted the whole force, and, led by Bossu, 
the cruel Spaniards at once fell upon the magistrates and 
town officials, soon murdered four hundred, robbed the 
merchants and violated the women. It was treachery most 
infamous, most brutal, but wholly in line with Popish mo- 
tives and principles. Papal conduct has always moved 
along this low grade of perfidy and injustice. 

Those three events, the capture of Brille, the notable and 
successful defence it made against the Papal party, and 
the infamous treachery of the Papal troop at Rotterdam, 
were sufficient to rouse the whole country. In rapid suc- 
cession post after post and fort following fort fell into the 
hands of the defenders of the country, and the Romish for- 
eigners just as rapidly lost ground. By suppression of 
rights, oppression most odious on account of their religion, 
and by taxation to the verge of ruin, the people were crushed 


354 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


to eartli. But they were, by this very regime of intended 
extinction, made desperate ; and when the start was made 
at Brille to throw off the yoke of the Pope and the invader 
at the same time, a score of places were ready to do the 
same. 

NOW COMES THE TURN. 

It was an uprising, which now spread through the Neth- 
erlands, that made Alva quickly ask to be re-called, made 
Philip wonder and fret, and the Pope uneasy. The effect 
on the Protestant classes was to create a positive state of 
joy ; especially was this the casein England. The English 
Protestant churches started a mighty stream of powder and 
guns, for the Dutch cause. Dutch exiles in England re- 
turned, and entered the service of the country. In Parlia- 
ment a demand was made for retirement of the Spaniards, 
or war was threatened. It was a just occasion for joy, for 
a country wholly in the dust had raised its head, given one 
terrific travail, and announced that it was bound for eman- 
cipation ; and all parties in Europe, who believed in the 
rights of conscience and constitutional liberties, chorused 
the acclaim of approval. 

SUBLIME ACT OF TOLERANCE. 

The reconstruction of the local burgher governments went 
rapidly on. Each place took oath to the Prince of Orange. 
He was now in Germany recruiting an army to chase the 
Spaniard from Netherland soil. He directed the manage- 
ment of affairs by agents and proclamations. His wisdom 
was of the highest type, while his generous sense of tolera- 
tion was unmatched in all the period of the great uprising 
against Home. He dispatched Sonoy to act as his lieuten- 
ant, to serve during his absence. He said in his instructions, 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


355 


that the ancient charters were to be restored. “Take care 
farther, that the Word of God be freely preached within 
our lines, and that the religion conformable to that Word 
be tolerated and published, if so be any, the meanest, would 
have it so. Yet by no means suffer the Romanists to be 
prejudiced for the faith’s sake ; secure them freely in the 
worship, nor withdraw your protection from them, unless 
the public safety warrants, and when so directed by me, 
and with the consent of the local authorities.” And when 
la Marck was confirmed as Admiral under Orange, he was 
instructed to “protect the Papists and their clergy in the 
future, and to guarantee them in the free exercise of their 
worship, under pain of death to their disturbers and for 
violating these instructions, he was one day to be dismissed 
irom the Dutch service. 

That was a beneficent and just policy, nowhere to be 
found in acts of Roman powers, nor anything which begins 
to approach it. 

Directing the deliverance of his country from a distance 
was not to the liking of the Prince of Orange. And now 
after four years of waiting and working beyond the border, 
he set his foot on his country’s soil in the name of God, and 
for liberty, the overthrow of foreign rule, and Papal despot- 
ism. In the midsummer of 1572 he crossed the Rhine with 
twenty-four thousand troops. He pushed rapidly south- 
ward to meet the force under Alva, which lay near. 

HOW NEWS OF BARTHOLOMEW WAS RECEIVED. 

One night, as William was reconnoitering, in view of 
making an assault on the intrenchments of Alva, he was 
surprised to see the Spanish camp suddenly made all aglow 
with fires, while volleys of musketry rang out, wild shouts 
of glee were heard, drums and trumpets rolled and blared 


356 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


forth, all together making an impression of a signal victory. 
Wondering what the demonstration sigaaled, the prince 
dispatched his spies to discover the cause. They soon re- 
turned with the information that there was a cause for the 
wild jubilee. The news had just reached Alva of the massa- 
cre of the Protestants in Paris on Bartholomew’s day. And 
this was a Popish army. No other comment need be made. 

In vain did William try to induce Alva to leave his in- 
trenchments. Within, he was safe ; without, he knew he 
was no match for W illiam’ s army. Disheartened, the prince 
at last had to retire. He recrossed the Rhine, and reaching 
Grermany, disbanded his army. As not before, William was 
almost disheartened. Alone he set out for Holland, writing 
he would there “make his sepulchre.” 

The southern provinces soon gave way before Alva’s 
troop of pillagers and murderers, and he was ready to move 
northward. Orange, though his sun had dipped its disk in 
the clouds for a moment, upon his defeat in the south, was 
as persistent and brave as ever. “I trust that the great 
God of battles is with me, and that he will fight in the 
midst of whatever forces I may gather withal,” he wrote as 
he crossed the Znyder Zee with eighty dragoons. 

AWFUL SCENE OF PAPAL CEUELTY. 

Moving northward, Alva overreached himself at Naarden. 
His son was in direct charge. Before the surrender he 
agreed that the lives and property of the populace should 
be undisturbed. The Spaniards entered the city. The bell 
rang out a summons for the leading citizens to gather in 
the great hall to take oath. The hall was crowded. A 
priest, who had been pacing to and fro before the door, 
suddenly opened the door and shouted, “Prepare for in- 
stant death.” The scene which followed was one of the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


357 


most awful ever performed by Popish cruelty. In five min- 
utes, five hundred bodies lay about, and the building was 
on fire. 

The great historian of the Dutch revolution, Motley, 
gives this terrible description of what immediately followed ; 

Infiamed, but not satiated, the Spaniards then rushed in- 
to the streets, thirsty for fresh horrors. The houses were 
rifled of their contents, and the citizens were forced to carry 
the booty to the camp, being then struck dead as their re- 
ward. The town, too, was fired in every direction, that the 
skulkers might be singed from their hiding-places. As fast 
as they came forth they were put to death by their im- 
patient foes. Some were pierced with rapiers ; some were 
chopped to pieces with axes ; some were surrounded in the 
burning streets by groups of laughing soldiers, intoxicated, 
not with wine, but with blood, who tossed them to and fro 
with their lances, and derived a wild amusement from their 
dying agonies. Those who attempted resistance were 
erimped alive like fishes, and left to gasp themselves to 
death in lingering torture. The soldiers, becoming more 
and more insane as the foul work went on, opened the veins 
of their victims and drank their blood as if it had been wine. 
Some of the burghers were temporarily spared, that they 
might witness the violation of their wives and daughters, 
being then butchered in company with these still more un- 
happy sufferers. Miracles of brutality were accomplished. 
IN'either Church nor hearth were sacred. Men were slain, 
women were outraged at the altars, in the streets, in their 
blazing homes.” 

This wanton massacre, which left less than sixty persons 
out of the entire population, was not only approved by 
Alva, but he praised it. In his report to king Philip, he 
writes : “ The army cut the throats of all, not a mother’s 
son was left alive.” 


358 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


The effect of this was to seal the growing resolution of all 
the sea-board cities, to perish with sword in hand, rather 
than burn for Spanish fun. 

alva’s savage boast. 

In October, 1577, Orange, having become convinced that 
the hope of the country lay with the Protestants, publicly 
joined that Church at Dort. Two months later, Alva left 
the IS'etherlands forever, boasting that he “had caused 
eighteen thousand, six hundred persons to be executed by 
the Inquisition.” 

Orange is triumphant. Philip, Margaret, Alva, the In- 
quisition, are all gone. Battle after battle follows on the 
sea, and the patriots are usually victorious. The Spanish 
army had collected in the low country above Leyden, and 
lay siege to that city. William, the great Prince of Orange, 
now proposed a great thing, and heroic. And it succeeded. 
The dykes along the Mense and Yessel kept the ocean out 
of the low country, in which the Spanish lay, engaged in 
the siege of Leyden. He gained the consent of the estates 
to the opening of these dykes and flooding the country. 
Bonds were issued to cover the loss to the populace, while 
ladies freely gave plate and costly jewelry to sustain the 
work. 

THE DUTCH SEA-ROVEES. 

On the 3rd of January, the dykes were broken at sixteen 
places, whHe the gates were opened at Schiedam and Rotter- 
dam, and the ocean began to pour over the land. 

In nine days the water was ten inches deep in all direc- 
tions. And now came creeping in from the sea two hun- 
dred vessels, bearing ten cannon each. They were manned 
by the wildest of the wild Dutch sea-rovers, who had swore 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


359 


to spare ‘‘ neither noble nor simple, neither king, kaiser nor 
Pope, should they fall into their power.” A chain of sixty- 
two forts on the high ground were occupied by the Spaniards. 

A SIGHT OF MORAL GRANDEUR. 

The fleet sailed to within five miles of the city. The 
Spaniards would gladly have fled — but where ? The town 
would not admit them ; the ocean was creeping up around 
them, and not a high road was dry, by which they could 
march away ; the Dutch fleet was ready to open terriflc Are 
upon them. The Spanish attempted to command the dyke, 
but were repulsed with heavy loss. The dykes, by order of 
Prince of Orange, were broken open. For three* days the 
wind was from the ocean, and the Dutch fleet advanced as 
the sea poured in. But the tide went out, and left the fleet 
high and dry. Then the Spaniards were Jubilant and de- 
fiant, and shouted to the garrison of Leyden, that the Prince 
of Orange could ‘‘pluck stars from the sky as easily as 
bring the ocean to Leyden.” The garrison shouted back, 
that they would set Are to the city, and perish in the flames 
men, women and children, “rather then suffer our homes 
to be polluted and our liberties crushed.” 

Eh ! but it was a sight of moral grandeur, worthy to be 
remembered and recounted in all the ages, wherever liberty 
is honorably spoken of, and heroism is praised. 

Now comes the night of October 1st, 1574, and the vio- 
lent equinoctial storm came tearing in from the northeast, 
bearing in its arms the mighty waves of old ocean. In 
twenty- four hours the stranded fleet was under sail ; and 
at midnight of the 2d, the ships were passing up the 
street and among the chimneys of a village near Leyden, 
and when the morning broke, the roar of cannon told the 
waiting, starving heroes of Leyden, that deliverance was 


360 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


coming in on the ocean wave. Morning came, and lo, the 
Spaniards had fled in fright, and the darkness of the night. 

The following day the wind shifted to the northeast, and 
blew a tempest, which sent the ocean back again to its own 
bed, and the dykes were speedily repaired. 

ATTEMPT AT BRIBERY. 

Papal envoys, seeing the Netherlands were free, if Orange 
remained their leader, sought to win him by powerful bribes. 
They proposed to restore his conficated property, liberate 
his son from prison, permit liberty of worship for himself^ 
pay all his debts, refund his public expenses, and do any 
thing else he should desire. To this scheme of base treach- 
ery, the jirince nobly replied, that, neither for property nor 
for liberties, neither for life, nor for children, would he 
mix in his cup a single dro^) of treason. Truly this Prince 
of Orange was one of the noblest and greatest of all men ! 

THE BRAVE PRINCE ASSASSINATED. 

Ten years passed away. The Netherlands were free from 
the rule of the foreigner, in both State and Church. Rome 
was completely overthrown. Religious tolerance and con- 
stitutional liberties were established, and intelligence, pros- 
perity and happiness were rapidly returning, when Rome 
played her last hand. It was July 10th, 1584, that the 
prince was passing a passage way, leading from the dining 
room, w^hen the hired assassin, Belthasar Gerard, stepping 
near, discharged a pistol at his heart ; three balls entered 
his body, and he soon expired. 

Seven years Gerard had been seeking an opportunity to 
slay the prince. He had consulted with Jesuits and Papal 
leaders. His intentions were known to the Pope, and he 
was in the employ of Philip of Spain, who offered him large 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


361 


reward, and which the king paid to his parents upon his 
execution. And so, while the Papacy could not restore its 
power and rule in the Netherlands, it could assassinate the 
father of restored liberty in that country, thus giving an- 
other proof of its undying hatred for freedom. 

DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND POPES SURRENDERED. 

The crowning good, of the popular uprising in the Neth- 
erlands against the Papacy, is found in the moral right of 
any country, to embody in its highest forms of law the 
liberties which the people may appoint for themselves. 
The established certainty of modern constitutional liberties 
was a result, and a most valuable one, of the Dutch Kefor- 
mation. And this grew out of two things, one of which 
is newly discovered in the ideas which were liberated by 
the revolution in the Netherlands. The divine right of 
kings was overthrown among the marshes of the low coun- 
tries of Holland. Philip’s violent reign forfeited the claim 
of any divine right, in the opinion -of Dutch reason. If 
Philip II. had no divine right to rule, without the assent 
of. the people, then no ruler, by the accident of accession to 
a throne, held any divine right over a people, independent 
of their choice or will. From the surrender of the idea of 
the divine right of kings, it was an easy step to a like sur- 
render of the idea of the divine right of Popes. Priestcraft 
was a greater evil in the Netherlands than kingcraft. Hol- 
land disclaimed any right of the Popes to lord it over her 
people. 

Hence it is, that the blow Home had in the Netherlands, 
was the heaviest she had yet received. Scotland gave just 
as hard a stroke in one direction, but was not ready to sur- 
render the monarchy for the republic; and behind the 
throne of kingcraft, always lurks a stronghold of priest- 
craft. It is hard for the king to do without the Pope. 


TO KNOX, 


“I have somewhat pondered God and man. 

I could not join with Roman Church. Start not t 
If the Papal court bid me expiate, 

With pangs of martyrdom, my quest of Truth, 

Lo, I am ready — bear me to the stake ! 

I have no fear — I would not live in fear — 

I would not hold existence on the bond. 

But, like a coward, I must lie for life." 


Is IT THE OPINION OF LEADING 
STATESMEN THAT ROME YET 
WORKS FOR RESTORATION 
TO TEMPORAL POWER? 

There is a fixed purpose among the secret inspirers of 
Roman policy to pursue, by the road of force, upon the 
arrival of any favorable opportunity, the favorite project 
of re-erecting the terrestrial throne of Popedom, even if 
it can only be re-erected on the ashes of the city, and 
amid the whitening bones of the people. 

Gladstone. 

The Church of Rome is not a body of theological be- 
lief, but an immense secret society, animated in all parts 
of the world with one ambition, moving everywhere, and 
in all times toward one end— the establishment of abso- 
lute power for itself over all men, in all lands. 

Lord Robert Montague. 


PART XII. 


THE CONFLICT IN SCOTLAND. PAPAL SCHEMES 
AND JESUIT PLOTS. 

In the great historic protest against Papal rule and cor- 
ruption, which we have been considering, each country 
had a phase of the movement characteristic of itself. In 
France toleration alone was at first asked, while the princes 
of the realm, so generally falling into line with the reform 
movement, gave a certain romantic tinge of chivalry to 
the Deformation in that land, and eventually made the 
throne a central figure ; in Switzerland the attempt was 
first made to include the government within the circle of 
reform ; in Germany the spirit of the Deformation was the 
rehabiliment of a vigorous and Scriptural faith, by which 
all Papal claims and pretentions were to be tested, and in 
the light of which mere traditions and legends were to be 
examined ; in Holland, under ‘‘William the Silent,” who 
was the great forerunner and forefather of William III., the 
Deformation was more of a political movement than in 
France, and more of a patriotic movement than even in 
Switzerland, and was a determined and prolonged contest, 
lasting for a quarter of a century, for the overthrow of the 
( 364 ) 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


365 


Spanish Inquisition, and a constitutional declaration against 
the divine right of the Popes ; while in Scotland, we see 
the same doctrinal basis which was the original trade-mark 
of the Genevan Reformation, and the same Papal plots 
which protrude in that of France; yet, in addition, we see a 
vehemence of doctrinal conviction, an impassioned denun- 
ciation of Papal immorality and ignorance, and a complete- 
ness of the Reformation, belonging peculiarly to the land 
of the heather and the glen. 

MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

An extra charm is given to the Scotch Reformation be- 
cause that most interesting woman. Queen Mary Stuart, 
figures in it. The most beautiful and fascinating woman 
connected with the royalty of the sixteenth century, she 
was a prominent factor in the Scotch upheaval. Mary 
Stuart was the willing and ready instrument of Romish 
conspiracies against nations and liberties. !N^o woman could 
have done more for human rights and liberties, and have 
made a name of lasting fame in a good cause ; no woman, 
excepting one, did make herself so instrumental for evil 
and perfidy, and construct a fame of infamy equal to beau- 
tiful, bewitching Queen Mary. That one exception, we 
would make, was Catherine de Medicis. 

HELPS OF POWERFUL PREACHERS. 

An additional feature of the Scotch Reformation was the 
large number of powerful preachers. In this Scotland ex- 
celled. No land on earth can boast such a list of great 
preachers as have been produced in Scotland, as the output 
of the Reformation movement. Even those of the sixteenth 
century were men of power and eloquence, coming from a 
soil less promising than that of any country where the re- 


366 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


form spirit took deep root in tlie thought and heart of the 
people. In this list of the first Eeformation period in 
Scotland were: William Arth, whose powerful sermon on 
“cursing” made a lasting sensation; Alexander Seton, 
from whose mouth poured torrents of indignation against 
the ignorance and stupidity of the bishops ; Patrick 
Hamilton, of noble blood, and still more noble tongue ; 
George Wishart, who was a pupil of Calvin, and teacher of 
Knox, who gave his executioner a kiss of pardon as the 
flames tormented his flesh ; while still later, when the cause 
liad reached success, many a great light blazed from the 
pulpit, among which were Andrew Melville, one of the 
most learned men of his day ; Eobert Eollock, one of the 
most popular men in the land ; George Buchanan, George 
Craig, and James Lawson, successor to Knox in the pulpit 
at Edinboro. In this list it is worthy to note that the two 
first, Arth and Seton, were the lights that helped the dawn 
on, and did not themselves come out of the Eomish com- 
munion ; and that Wishart and Hamilton were not ordained 
to the ministry, but preached by right of conscience as they 
learned it in the English Bible. 

THE AID OF EDUCATION. 

Equally striking with the great preachers in Scotland, is 
to be remarked the prompt and able organization of the di- 
vinity school. Let it be remembered to the glory of the 
Scotch pulpit, that it started the Eeformation epoch on a 
high intellectual grade. The university of Glasgow, and 
that of Edinboro, came to the control of the reformers, the 
latter being founded by the town council under the influ- 
ence of Lawson, who also revived the high school. The 
university of Aberdeen swung into line, and in short cut 
the Eeformation pulpit in Scotland took on a high academic 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


367 


culture, which made it an intellectual lever to lift up the 
people, and yet it was not, and never came on this account 
to have a tinge of rationalism. 

While we are looking for the distinctive feature of the 
Scotch Reformation, we must put in the lead, as most char- 
acteristic of all her distinctive features, that towering, 
superlative man of his day, and his country, preacher, 
teacher, leader and most courageous hero, John Knox. As 
we read about him we will have in mind what the earl of 
Morton said, standing by his grave: “There lies he who 
never feared the face of man.” We will bear in mind what 
Thomas Carlyle has more recently said: “He is the one 
Scotchman to whom the world and his country owe a debt. 
Honor him ! His works have not died.” 

A SMALL COUNTEY BUT GREAT. 

What a small land it is, in which we have to locate such 
a big and far-reaching work ! It is amazing that a few 
people, without previous training, could so quickly take on 
a complete transformation in life, morals and religion. The 
whole of Scotland is much smaller in area than our Ameri- 
can State of Kansas. It would take one hundred and 
thirty countries, the size of Scotland, to make one the size 
of America. Down in Texas there are counties almost as 
large as entire Scotland. In geography it is so contempti- 
bly small that it is almost pitiable. An English soldier of 
Cromwell’s army could boast that he could blow his bugle 
on Castle-hill, at Sterling, and it would be heard by the 
natives in the upper Highlands, and at the same time its 
echoes would sound among the cloisters of Melrose Abbey 
on the south. 

An Englishman of our day boasts that he belongs to an 
empire so large, that the sun never sets upon it ; while 


368 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


some one lias made the funny saying, that Scotland is so 
small that the sun sets on the west coast before it gets 
through rising on the east coast. If an American fast ex- 
press should start to cross Scotland, at the widest part, and 
we should sit down in the dining car to eat our dinner, at 
the time of departure, we should have to hurry through, to 
finish by the time the train had reached the other side of 
the country. 

One of the smallest among the small countries of the 
world, yet the greatest is it in the solid merits of civiliza- 
tion, since Palestine has passed out of current history and 
Greece has gone into decay. If we once learn to recognize 
the private mark of Scotch character and ideas, as im- 
printed on the products of civilization, then will we believe 
that the greatness of Scotland is unmatched. Her largest 
lake maybe crossed in an hour’s sail, and her broadest 
river may have a stone tossed across its waters ; but who- 
ever would understand fully the history of Scotch ideas, 
and know how to take the dimensions of Scotch character, 
and trace the streams of Scotch influence, has the task of a 
philosopher at hand. 

This land of the castle and the crag, the home of the 
thistle, and carpeted with the velvet heather, and be jeweled 
with the daisy and the milk-white thorn, sustained one of 
the greatest conflicts ever waged by the human intellect for 
freedom and progress, truth and righteousness. In that 
fearful conflict men stand out, grand, imposing, immutable. 

GEEATEST THING IN THE SCOTCH CONFLICT. 

It is our purpose to trace the lines of that conflict, and 
picture the more prominent events, movements and persons. 
The first noticeable thing in that conflict is that God’s 
Word is in the forefront, and is pre-eminent as a factor* 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


305 


lars and roasted them to death. Every one bore testimony 
to the utter groundlessness of the charges against them. 

SUPPRESSION AND CONFISCATION. 

The end came when a council of bishops suppressed 
them. They immediately scattered over the world. The 
Pope turned their estates over to the Church. 

It was March 18th, 1314, that the bull of suppression from 
the Pope was read to an immense multitude in Paris, be- 
fore which de Molay and his chiefs were brought. When 
he heard the charge, he cried with a great voice that it was 
false. De Molay and one of his chiefs were, the same ev- 
ening, taken to an island in the Seine and were burned. 
This would appear to give all the evidence necessary, that 
the Templars had been dealt with in an unjust, cowardly 
and inhuman manner. 

This is the story of the way in which the Papacy came 
to turn against Free Masonary. That intense hatred con- 
tinues in the Church. In some countries within the last 
two years, Koman Catholics have been ordered by the bish- 
ops to give no aid to a Mason, even when in hunger, thirst 
or sickness. 

The Papacy may yet have to settle with the world for 
this high crime against humanity. 


PAPAL INTOLERANCE SOLILOQUZES, 


■“Why, I can smile, and murder while I smile, 

-And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart 
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears. 

And frame my face to all occasions ; 

I’ll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall ; 
I’ll slay more gazers than the basilisk ; 

I’ll play the orator as well as Nestor ; 

Deceive more slyly than Ulysses could, 

And, like a Sinon, take another Troy ; 

I can add colors to the Cameleon ; 

Change shapes with Proteus for advantages. 

And set the murd’rous Mechiavel to school.” 


Do Roman Catholic teachers 

JUSTIFY VIOLATIONS OF CIVIL 

LAWS ? 

Sapricius is accustomed to carry in his wagon, on his 
horse, or in some other way, wheat, wine, and other goods 
under toll-duty. He evades it whenever he can do so 
without fear of a fine, either in passing during the night 
by an out-of-the-way road, avoiding the custom officers, 
or deceiving them by ruse. He does not think he is doing 
any harm, because the duty charged is considerable, and 
because the law which establishes it is purely penal. 

Has he sinned, and is he obliged to make restitution ? 

No. Gury. 


PART X. 


DOWNFALL OF THE PAPACY IN GENEVA- 
DANGERS FROM PAPAL ILLITERACY 
IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Among the small states of the small republic of Switzer- 
land — in fact, the smallest but one — is the State of little 
Geneva, with the city of Geneva as the seat of local gov- 
ernment. This little State has an area of only one hundred 
and seven square miles, of which eleven and one-half are 
covered with water ; and yet this State has distinguished 
itself in originating and conserving liberties, and as being 
the home of a man who towers as high in Swiss history, as 
the Alps are high in the Swiss landscape. 

In the year 1509, while Zwingli was buckling on his 
armor in the more northern Swiss town of Glarus, and 
Luther had first opened his great movement at Wittemberg, 
John Calvin was born in the village of No yon, France. He 
passed through his childhood amidst the glaring Papal 
frauds of the day. His early education was mostly di- 
rected by a private tutor, who had charge of the sons of a 
noble. 


( 308 ) 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


309 


CHILDREN AS HIGH CHURCH OFFICIALS. 

In order to help bear the expense of his education, his 
father secured for him, when he was twelve years old, the 
position of chaplain in a small institution. It is indicative 
of the low and corrupt order of religion, which then pre- 
vailed, that the highest positions were not unfrequently 
conferred upon mere children. Here is a boy of twelve in 
charge of a religious house. France had a cardinal six- 
teen years old, and Portugal one twelve years of age. Aix 
had an archbishop five years old, and Geneva a bishop ten 
years old. 

His father intended his boy for the profession of law, 
which was then regarded as a high road to eminence. The 
boy repaired to Orleans, and afterwards to Bourges, to 
seek instruction of the renowned jurist, Alciot, whose em- 
inence and learning made brilliant his age. Calvin was 
charmed, and was soon a profound reasoner in law and pol- 
itics. The study of the law, designed by his father as a 
preparation for legal practice, was intended by Providence 
to be a great training for the work which lay before the re- 
former. That work was to be none other than a complete 
change of the constitutional laws of Western Europe. 
When that training had been sufficient. Providence won 
him over to the sacred science of theology. 

HOW A HEALTHY REFORMATION IS PRODUCED. 

A man had been brought down from Germany to the town 
of Bourges to teach the Greek of Homer and Demosthenes ; 
but along with this he began to teach the Greek of another 
book. He had seen that book in the hands of Luther, 
changing the faith of Germany. He declared that in that 
Look was the answer to every question of moral and social 


310 


THE ROMAJSr PAPACY. 


duty, and tlie solution of all political problems. That book 
was the Bible, and Calvin soon took up with the views of 
the German professor. He was soon deep in the waters of 
inspiration, wading about in search for the great truths of 
Scripture. 

Again is it to be observed, that it is from the Bible that a 
great Reformation was to spring. From that book Calvin 
received the mighty avalanche of truth which he was to 
pour into Geneva. 

He repaired to Paris, and for a time addressed the meet- 
ings of a few pious people, who gathered in private homes, 
through fear of Papal interruptions. He prepared an ad- 
dress, in which he boldly demanded a reformation of the 
church, on the Gospel plan. He had to flee for safety. 
For a time he quietly lived in the country, devoting 
himself to study for two years, all the while watching the 
storm which was gathering, and the thunder-bolts which 
were being forged, to purify the religious and political at- 
mosphere. 

NOVEL PLAN OE FRANCIS I. 

Francis I. was king of France. It was determined to ex- 
terminate, so far as possible, all who broke connection with 
the Romish Church. Like the Roman Emperor Nero, 
Francis seemed to desire that all condemned by him should 
feel the keenest agonies of death. In Paris, on the same 
day, at six different places, six tires burned as many men. 
The method of death was both novel and cruel. The victims 
were fastened to a long swinging beam. This was swung 
round into the fire, and then withdrawn ; again swung in- 
to the fire, and withdrawn ; plunged again into the flames 
and withdrawn. The king passed by these six fires in suc- 
cession, and witnessed the scene without a sentiment of re- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


311 


gret. In the days which followed, young maidens, weak 
and delicate women, brave men and young children, half- 
roasted, sang their psalms and proved their faith. This 
was a moral astonishment, and it very deeply impressed 
young Calvin. 

Wandering from his native land, he betook himself to 
Basle, in Switzerland. He felt that the time had come when 
the Protestants of France should send forth a declaration 
of their faith, and a declaration of their views on the in- 
dependence of the conscience. 

He threw the doctrines of the Reformation into a theo- 
logical form, in a way to lay the foundation for the organized 
religion of the Huguenots ; and later of the Dutch, Scotch, 
and the Puritans in England and America. This treatise 
was a wonderful and profound condensation of the Scrip- 
tural system as he understood it. “Free and substantial 
wisdom principally consists of two parts, the knowledge of 
God, and the knowledge of ourselves.” This appealed tO' 
the Huguenots, and became their strong food. 

EISE OF THE OENEVAI?- EEPUBLIC. 

Passing through Geneva one day he tarried over night,, 
intending to continue his journey the next day. But it was 
not to be so. On that day, August 5th, 1536, two streams 
of providence meet, and a great epoch begins. The little 
Canton • of Geneva lay within touch of almost every im- 
portant nation of Europe. It was a great opportunity 
which had unexpectedly ripened into notice. The day had 
come to organize, as never before, the high principles of 
human liberty. God had prepared the people, and they 
were ready. God had prepared Calvin, and he was ready. 

The journey he was on was relinquished, and for twenty- 
eight years Geneva was the theatre of his work. He was 


312 


THE HOMAN PAPACY. 


banished once, but he kept himself faithfully at work at 
the treadmill of his task. Geneva, having neither army 
nor territory, was to be elevated into a free republic 
by pure moral strength. It conquered as a city of the 
mind, a republic of thought ! It was a city of gray an- 
tiquity. We frequently meet with it in the writings of 
Caesar. It had long felt the throes of liberty ; but not un- 
til the sixteenth century did it see its way clear to throw 
off the Papal yoke. 

The Papacy was both tyrannical and corrupt in dealing 
with the people. At the time Calvin went to Geneva bishops 
and dukes were equally odious. The Genevese could no 
longer endure “Popes who were Caesars, nor Caesars who 
were Popes.” Under Calvin the strivings for liberty were 
to be realized in established freedom. He was to make 
Geneva the metropolis of the sixteenth century liberties. 
In his plan for a free Church and a free state, bishops were 
to give place to pastors, and dukes to give way to repre- 
sentatives of the people. It was a long stride in represen- 
tative government. 

OEIOIN OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

He laid deep and lasting one of the mud sills of intelli- 
gence in religious matters, when he organized for the 
Genevese a general system of education. This was the 
origin of our common school system. The Papal Church 
had not only done nothing for common education, but had 
opposed and finally destroyed a public school established 
in the fifteenth century, by a layman. Calvin believed that 
the Reformation had to live, and grow, and endure, by 
knowledge. And by his work, to give form to this belief, 
he stood in the very head light of the great intellectual 
movement of that century. The lasting effect of his system 


THE ROMAH PAPAGT. 


313 


of education in Switzerland is shown by the general intelli- 
gence of the people of the Protestant states. There are 
now twice as many journals published in Switzerland, as in 
Italy, the land of the Popes. The public schools in the 
City of Geneva have 20,000 books in their libraries. The 
university of Geneva has 75,000 volumes, one-eighth as 
many as can be found in the extensive Congressional Li- 
brary of our own country. 

CIVIL LIBEETIES GUAEANTEED. 

Under Calvin, civil liberties in Geneva became guaranteed. 
Prior to his day, those who wrought for liberty opened 
their own path to prison. To express a view not in favor 
with the dukes of Savoy, was to be hounded to the end. 
Bonnivard, the prisoner of Chillon, had declared that 
“there is only one tribunal that has power over the con- 
science, and that is heaven.” He had to spend six years in 
the underground dungeon of the castle of Chillon for say- 
ing it. Under Galvin, the daylight of fuller rights flooded 
Geneva ; the people were men of conscience and purpose, 
and the House of Savoy was driven beyond the Alps. 

PEODIGIOUS INFLUENCE OF GENEVAN LIBEETY. 

In liberty, religion, morals and intelligence, Geneva 
speedily had a reputation known of all men. “Never, 
since the last days of Israel, had any community been so 
completely regenerated and conformed to the ideals of 
morality, as was Geneva under the rule of Calvin.” The 
Protestant refugees flocked here, as they were driven from 
their own lands by persecution, and Geneva became a train- 
ing school, which was to scatter its seed all over western 
Europe. Churches were crowded; students poured into 


314 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


the lecture rooms ; printing presses poured forth a hundred 
streams of liberty and religion ; while about every citizen, 
except the extreme Papal wing of the populace, became an 
active propagation of an new spirit and method of govern- 
ment. The effect was prodigious ! 

The theory of Christian doctrine, which Calvin took from 
Paul and AugUstine, and elaborated into a system of Chris- 
tian life, moral duty, and civil functions, contributed im- 
mensely to the growing liberties of the period, and proved 
a death blow to the Papacy in many a corner of Europe. 
His view of the Christian system, in its relation to civil 
affairs, may be stated in a single sentence : The universal 
and eternal, general and specific sovereignty of Grod, upon 
the conscience, in the will, and in life, holds man true to 
the eternal truths, in relation to all things, and hence makes 
him free in those relations. As God alone is lord of the 
conscience, no earthly potentate can domineer over it ; hence 
men are free and equal. From this liberty, equality and 
representation had to flow. 

If a man’s greatness is to be measure by the ever widening 
circles of his influence, then there can be no hesitancy, by 
fair judicial finding, in pronouncing Calvin one of the great- 
est men of the sixteenth century ; and it was a century of 
many very great men — Luther, Zwingli, Ursinus, Malanc- 
thon, Knox, Cramner. Calvin’s systematized thought, 
and mighty impulse upon religion, education and constitu- 
tional, representative government, throw all the others into 
an eclipse. 

TESTIMONY OF GREAT MEN. 

The most learned and competent to judge have not been 
slow to render justice to the name of Calvin. Dorner de- 
clares that '‘Calvin was equally great in intellect and char- 
acter, lovely in social life, full of tender sympathy and 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


315 


faithfulness to friends, yielding and forgiving toward 
personal offenses, but inexorably severe when he saw 
the honor of God obstinately and malignantly attacked.” 
Theodore Beza, who knew him best, wrote : “Having been 
an observer of Calvin’s life for sixteen years, I may with 
perfect right testify that we have in this man a most beau- 
tiful example of a Christian life and death, which it is easy 
to defame, but difficult to imitate.” The famous Montes- 
quieu says : “ The Genevese should ever bless the day of 

his birth.” Hooker expresses the opinion that Calvin is 
“incomparably the wisest man in the French Church.” 
Jewel declares he is a “worthy ornament of the Church of 
God.” Renan, the skeptic, pronounces him the “most 
Christian man of his age.” Bancroft, the most reliable 
historian, as well as a most scholarly American, says : ‘ ‘ He 
who will not honor the memory and respect the influence 
of Calvin,* knows but little of the origin of American 
liberty.” 

INFLUENCE ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS. 

Calvin’s influence upon the religious thought and insti- 
tutions of the American Republic, during our formation 
period, was greater than that of any other man. His teach- 
ings very largely entered into the establishment of civil lib- 
erty, on this side of the Atlantic. The representative rights 
of liberty as growing by nature out of man’ s equality be- 
fore man, and his dependence upon God, flrst experimented 
upon in Geneva, under Calvin, impressed their claim upon 
the founders of our civil institutions. 

RELIGION SHOULD CONSERVE, NOT SUBVERT, CIVIL LIBERTY. 

The bearing of Calvin’s great work at Geneva, both in 
its direct and its remote influence, upon the world-wide 
movement against the Papacy, brings into consideration 


316 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


two of the most valuable truths. The Genevese Eeforma- 
tion brings them to the front as no other country does. The 
first of these great principles, now universally held, is that 
religion should be made to conserve and advance, and not 
subvert and oppress civil liberties. Eome had never been 
taught this until Geneva established, from religious mo- 
tives as well as municipal expediency, a free republic, and 
made the conservation of her liberties a part of the relig- 
ious duties of citizens. The Koman religion has always 
subjected civil laws and liberties wholly to the ecclesiasti- 
cal machine. 

HOMAN PKIESTS AND NUNS NOT SUBJECT TO OUR LAWS. 

The Roman Catholic ecclesiastical law holds that because 
a person belongs to the ecclesiastical order, as a monk, or 
nun, such person should not be subject to the civil powers, 
except by the permission of the superior Church authority. 
This is the ruling of Satollifor the United States ; it is like- 
wise held in Smith’s great work on Canon Law. This idea 
of the inherent superiority of ecclesiastical over civil law, 
must inevitably erase the first principles of liberty from the 
breast, and place the mental operations wholly at the 
disposal of the priesthood. In our large cities in the 
United States, in the State Legislatures, and in the manage- 
ment of national legislation at Washington, the hand 
of the priest is too often laid upon the civil operations ; 
and this is the hand of the ecclesiastical boss, which 
is invariably accompanied with a threat. The man of high 
and honorable character does not take kindly to such priest- 
ly interference. He is told he is not wanted. So the mu- 
nicipal and state offices are at the mercy of unscrupulous 
and corrupt managers of the ecclesiastical power, who farm 
them out for what they are worth to the Church. All lib- 


I 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


317 


erties must eventually perisli incur land if these Papal op- 
pressions are not overcome. When the Roman priest is 
active there can be no civil independence or purity. The 
Genevese solved the question by making religion serve the 
cause of liberty. If the Papacy is against freedom, then 
religion, which has no part with the Papacy, must be called 
upon to instruct and lead in the things which advance the 
civil rights and liberties of the people. Hence it becomes 
a religious duty, as well as a political one, to oppose the 
Papacy. 

RELIGION SHOULD PROMOTE, NOT RETARD INTELLIGENCE. 

The second great object lesson which was taught by the 
Genevese Reformation was, that religion should be made 
to promote, not retard intelligence. The Romish Church 
had destroyed the schools of Geneva. The Reformation, 
under John Calvin, not only established schools and placed 
them under the care of the state, but provided for all classes 
to receive instruction. Geneva had an educated citizenship 
second to none in Europe. The influence of the Protestant 
Reformation on the intelligence of the world has been most 
delightful, and greatly aided the general progress. 

PAPAL HINDRANCE TO EDUCATION. 

The baneful influence of the Roman Papacy upon educa- 
tion is universally deplored, as it is generally known. The 
Papacy is fatal to the intelligence of any nation. It is 
greatly to be lamented that it controls the consciences and 
hearts of such a large per cent, of our population, as it 
means a deplorable lowering of our general standard of in- 
telligence. As a system of education, that conducted by 
the Roman Church is calculated to retard and embarrass any 
broad and liberal enterprise of the mind. The generous 


318 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


thinkers in her own communion charge this fatal error upon 
the educational efforts of the Church. Mr. W. H. Manley, 
of New York, one of the laymen of standing in the Eoman 
Church, in an article in the Independent^ shows the logical 
failure of his Church to give anything like a liberal educa- 
tion to young men. In the course of this article he points 
out the wrong as a fundamental one in these words : “ Not 
to men like Cromwell, or Jefferson, or Lincoln, are Catholic 
boys taught to look for patterns of life and conduct ; the 
writings of a Locke, a Goethe, a Whittier, or an Emerson 
are never recommended; but a professional beggar, like 
St. Benedict Labre, who cultivated vermin on his body 
out of sheer humility, is placed before them as a glorious 
model ; and they are earnestly advised to feed upon such 
literary productions as the life of St. Aloysius [‘the patron 
of youth !’] of whom it is on record that he never looked his 
own mother in the face, because of his surpassing purity. 
Hence the profound distrust of the young people, for any- 
thing in the line of literature or education having the offi- 
oial stamp of their Church.’’ 

ROMAN CATHOLIC ILLITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The inevitable result of this Church, upon a nation’ s in- 
telligence, is that of illiteracy proportionate to her influence 
and control. According to the Dublin Review^ the great 
Eoman Catholic quarterly, the Church has made a miserable 
failure of University education in Ireland. As to what the 
Church does in common education in Ireland we can judge 
by the thousands of Irishmen in every large city in this 
land. Seventy thousand Italians came to the United States 
in 1803, and fifty thousand of them could not read or write. 
And yet education has progressed greatly in that country 


JHE ROMAN PAPACY. 


319 


during the last twenty years, because of the growing power 
of the State in affairs of education. When the . Church 
absolutely controlled education in Italy, eighty out of a 
hundred were utterly illiterate. 

Roman Catholic illiteracy in America is an ugly fact. It 
must be overcome. It can only be overcome by stopping 
Roman Catholic illiterate immigration, and forcing Roman 
Catholic youth, now in this country, into the public schools. 
And this should be done no matter what priest, bishop, or 
Pope may say. The whole hierarchical machine of the 
Papacy had better be destroyed, than to carry this process 
of lowering our educational standing, before the nations of 
the earth, any further. 


TO THE DUTCH MARTYR PATRIOTS. 


“ Stand ! the ground’s your own, my braves I 
Will ye give it up to slaves ? 

Will ye look for greener graves ? 

Hope ye mercy still ? 

What’s the mercy despots feel ? 

Hear it in that battle-peal ! 

Read it on yon bristling steel ! 

Ask it — ye who will. 

Fear ye foes who kill for hire ? 

Will ye to your homes retire ? 

Look behind you ! — they’re afire 1 
And before you see 
Who have done it! — From the vale 
On they come I — And will ye quail? 

Leaden rain and iron hail 
Let their welcome be ! 

“ In the God of battles trust I 
Die we may, — and die we must ; 

But O, where can dust to dust 
Be consigned so well. 

As where Heaven its dews shall shed 
On the martyred patriot’s bed. 

And the racks shall raise their heads, 

Of his deeds to tell I” 


THE ROMAN PAP ACT. 


385 


Frencli court, and all of which was a part of the Komisk 
scheme pertaining to the overthrow of Protestantism, Mary 
of Lorraine, the widow of James Y., and belonging to the 
famous Guise-Lorraine family of France which we have 
already described, was queen-regent of Scotland. She was 
all that might be expected of her family. She made prom- 
ises, but to break them; and enacted the most solemn cov- 
enants with her nobles, but to ignore them. While Knox 
was preaching in Geneva, she ordered the Protestant 
preachers to trial. It was a vicious, cowardly trick, for 
which she was not alone guilty. As is seen, the bishops 
were back of her orders for these trials of heresy. When 
her order reached Chalmers of Gadgirth there was a re- 
bound. He took it, and followed by his people, he entered 
the council chamber of the queen-regent, as she sat sur- 
rounded by her bishops. Shaking the paper in her face he 
said : ‘‘ Madame, we know this proclamation is a device of 
the bishops and that bastard [the primate of St. Andrews] 
that sits at your side. We vow to God that we will make 
a day of it.” And they did. And this French woman 
trembled as these men buckled on their steel bonnets in her 
presence, and thereby intimated what their answer would 
be if her persecutions continued to apologize with false- 
hoods. She had witnessed no such scenes in the stormiest 
hours she had known in the French court. After the Prot- 
estant leaders had been carried off in the French galleys 
the Palpal party had things their own way, and speedily 
put down the reform movement, or rather, drove it into a 
retreat. The archbishop of St. Andrews was in practical 
control of the crown. The engagement of the young Mary 
to the heir of the English throne was broken off, through 
the intrigues of the cardinal and the cunning Mary of Guise,, 
as it was seen that such a marriage would ultimate in the 


886 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


union of tlie kingdoms, and make both Protestant. To 
maintain their seeming victory, the cardinal and bishops 
;set about a pretension of reform. Great noise was made of 
the improvement of the morals and intelligence of the 
•clergy. Provision was made by which clergy living with 
concubines were to be fined their whole income for three 
months, and that the priests should not have their own 
children living in their own homes ; it was also ordered 
that the bishops should preach at least four times a year, 
unless lawfully hindered. The execution of these decrees 
was entrusted to the very persons who were concerned in 
keeping up the vices, so instead of any corrections, these 
acts of council only served to publish to the world the 
abuses of the Church. The immorality of monks and bish- 
ops grew apace. 

John Knox had quietly returned to Scotland, and was 
secretly meeting his friends of the Reformation, giving 
them encouragement and preaching the Word to those in- 
vited in. As might have been expected, it soon became 
known that he was in the country. He was ordered to Ed- 
inboro to give answer to the charges against him. He re- 
plied he would attend. The cardinal was uncertain of the 
result, and knowing the ignorance of his men to meet one 
of the ability of Knox, he withdrew the arrangement for 
the meeting, and Knox never had the chance he coveted. 
He received a call to the Church at Geneva, and at once left 
the country, feeling the hour was not yet ripe for the blow 
to be given in Scotland. 

DEEPEST PLOT OP THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 

The deepest plot of the sixteenth century, if not of all 
t}he centuries, for the general massacre of millions of peo- 
ple is now to be uncovered. In the revelation of this con- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


387 


spiracy, let it be known that all those who had anything 
to do with it, were heart and hand in with the Papacy ; 
that the purpose was to destroy, not in one country, but 
in all countries, all who held to the Protestant faith ; to 
build up a great Papal empire, so powerful and compact 
that it would be utterly impossible to again encroach upon 
the rule and will of the Roman Church. It seems most 
intelligent that the murder of the Huguenots in France, 
and the slaughter in Holland, under Alva, was indeed a 
part of this scheme. This is the most reasonable conclu- 
sion of those furious outbreaks of cruelty, under the au- 
spices of those who were accessory to the Papal plot in 
Scotland. 

WHO INVENTED THE CONSPIEACY ? 

Mary of Guise is still the queen-regent in Scotland. She 
is the mother of the youthful Mary, who soon is to be Queen 
of Scots, and who at this time is in France under Papal 
training and direction. If Mary of Guise trembled before 
the rebuke of Chalmers, she fairly sank with fright when 
she learned that Knox knew of her deep, dark work of di- 
plomacy, hatched in France, endorsed by the Pope, for the 
overthrow of the Protestant civilizations of Europe. Her 
own child, Mary Stuart, beautiful in form and face, and 
voice and manner, was soon to be the Scotch queen, and is 
now made the fatal link that is to bind Scotland to France 
and the Papacy. Whose idea this first was, is never to be 
known ; but it matured in the breast of this woman, in 
whose veins ran the blood of a dozen generations of Popish 
corruption and cunning. The conspiracy was the most in- 
genious and far-reaching ever laid for the destruction of the 
Protestant religion. It was a gigantic undertaking, de- 
signed to make all Europe Papal, overturn the govern- 


388 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


ments favorable to Protestant reform, and involved the as- 
sassination of two or three million people. The best way 
to execute this plot, was the daily study of Mary of Guise, 
as she played the traitor-regent of Scotland. Her spies 
were operating at the court of almost every throne in Europe, 
and she was aided by the craft and intrigue of all the Pa- 
pal diplomats. 

WHO KNEW OP it! 

Charles IX. of France, and his fiendish mother, Catherine 
de Medicis ; the cardinal of Lorraine, head of the Roman 
Church in France ; the Duke of Alva, the most heartless 
general of all the Papal armies for many a century ; Philip 
II. , of Spain, most willing ally of the Court of Rome ; and 
the Pope, always ready for any crime, or fraud to ad- 
vance his interests — all these, and no doubt others not 
known, were deep in the spirit and designs of this plot, be- 
lieved in it, and worked for it. 

WHAT IT INVOLVED. 

This shameful design upon the peace and integrity of the 
nations of Europe involved the following extensive and 
awful program : A league was to be formed of Scotland, 
France and Spain ; the crown of Scotland was to be settled 
upon a French prince, a child of the Papacy, and a half 
imbecile, between whom and the Princess Mary of Scotland 
there was to be a marriage, so that in Mary Stuart, Queen 
of Scotland, and her husband, Francis II. King of France, 
the two kingdoms would be united; a federation of the 
armies of the three realms was to be made ; this was to be 
followed by the invasion of England ; then was to be ac- 
complished the dethronement of the Protestant Queen Eliza- 
beth, and the transfer of her crown to some Papal ruler. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


889 


It was a plot most cruel, most criminal, awful in its in- 
tention of wholesale murder, cunning in arrangement, skill- 
ful in manipulation, and hellish in purpose. Every supposed 
emergency was provided for, and the mighty conspira.cy of 
wrong was far on its way when it was discovered. This much 
was already accomplished. The princess, Mary Stuart, was 
married to Francis, heir to the French throne : the two 
kingdoms were uniting under one policy and religion: 
Mary of Guise, by the diplomacy of the Roman bishops in 
Scotland, had been made regent, instead of the Earl of 
Arran, who was forced to resign in her favor; Mary of 
Guise, by her strategy, induced the nobles to bind the nation 
to a union with France ; and under a pretext of making a 
demonstration against the English, she gained their consent 
to mobilize the French army in Scotland ; the French troops 
were already encamped on the Scottish moors, when the 
whole scheme was laid open to the astonished eyes of Eu- 
rope, and the nations were dumfounded. 

The remarkable cunning of Mary of Guise had admitted 
a strange duplicity at one point. She had not anticipated, 
and hence had not prepared to meet, three emergencies — 
the direct hand of God, an over -ruling Providence, and the 
interference of John Knox. 

DECEPTIOISr OF MAKY OF GUISE-LORRAINE. 

The abominable queen-regent had courted the Protestant 
nobles, in order to gain their assent to the alliance of their 
daughter and Francis of France, and later to secure their 
consent to have a French army to land on Scottish soil. 
She promised them protection from the clergy, and the fa- 
vor of the crown. Papal rulers are always ready in promis- 
ing, and slow in keeping promises. When they remon- 
strated with her, she unblushingly told them “that it be- 


390 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


came not subjects to burden their princes with promises^ 
farther than they pleased to keep them.'’ In this duplici- 
ity she was urged by her brothers, beyond reasonable 
doubt. These were the princes of Lorraine, in France. It 
would be in perfect keeping with their course if they had 
been the instigating party. 

THE MASK THROWN OFF. 

When Mary finally threw off the mask, the nobles saw 
the gulf into which she had about precipitated them. When 
she began to murder the Protestants, with her French troops, 
the scales fell from their eyes, and they saw something of 
her hidden plans. While she was fuming over their merci- 
less rebuke, John Knox suddenly appeared from his exile in 
Europe, landed at Leith, entered Edinboro, hurried to 
Dundee, pulled up at Perth, unlumbered his guns of elo- 
quence and power, and went to work to bombard the enemy 
with the most furious fusilade of logic, learning and truth. 
The Papal clergy were fairly stupefied with amazement. 
Mary was irrecoverably discomfited, and before she had 
time to change her plan to meet the new conditions, Knox 
had organized the whole Deformation in Scotland, aroused 
the nobles, recharged public opinion, and saw the French 
troops marching away. 

As Knox went on preaching, the people began to tear 
down the monasteries, tumbling pictures, images and relics 
out of the church windows at the same time. 

POPERY TURNED OUT OF DOORS. 

The destruction of the Scotch ecclesiastical structures is 
to be deplored on the one side, and rather approved on the 
other. It is to be regretted that any piece of human labor 
should be destroyed, and many of the old Scotch monaster- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


y91 


ies were fine old piles, and if standing now would add 
greatly to the wealth of Scottish antiquity ; but it is very 
conclusive that nothing so impressed the Papal party with 
the determination of the reformers to make a clean work of 
reform, as the way in which they knocked to pieces their 
cloisters and tore out the pictures and images of the churches. 
The beginning of this was when Knox preached a sermon 
on the mass. At the close a priest, in pure aggravation, un- 
covered an altar, and began to say mass. It was too much 
for Scottish endurance. A young man called out : ‘‘This 
is intolerable, that when God by his Word hath thrown 
down idolatry, we shall stand and see it used in despite. 
The priest gave him a blow. Rome that day struck herself. 
The blow of the priest rebounded, and ceased not until im- 
ages, altars and monasteries all over the kingdom were 
mostly demolished. Before the priest could save his altar 
the congregation was at work, tearing down and destroy- 
ing altars, images and ornaments to the last vestige. The 
multitude then fell upon the monasteries of Gray Friars,. 
Black Friars, the charterhouse, in such a way that in ten 
days the walls alone remained. In a time incredibly short, 
most of the monasteries and churches in the country were 
despoiled of altars, images and monuments. Among those 
almost totally demolished were those of the capital. In 
less than two weeks monkery was overthrown, and it never 
got to its feet again in Scotland ; and Popery was practical- 
ly turned out of doors, though it hung about to persecute 
and kill in its dying days. 

THE QUEEH-REGEHT A MINIOH OF THE PAPAL COURT. 

The Protestants were now remembering that if they wanted 
liberty and religious rights, they must unseat the infamous 
Mary of Guise from the regency. They remembered that 


892 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


during tlie reign of her husband, James Y., the Romish 
clergy had worked through the throne for their extermina- 
tion. They remembered the day when the bishops presented 
a list of several hundred to the king, who was told these 
possessed great wealth, and by slaying them, and declar- 
ing their estates forfeited, he could mightily enrich his 
crown. And they, too, remembered that up to the end of the 
king’s life the power of the Papacy grew. And now it was 
quite evident that all the professions of attachment made 
by his widow, Mary of Guise, since she was regent, were a 
delusion and a snare for the cause of liberty and Protest- 
antism. In the regency of Scotland, as Margaret in the re- 
gency of Holland, she was but a minion of the Papal court. 
Devotees of the Pope are never in a situation to serve their 
subjects. The house of Lorraine must be rebuked. Mary 
must surrender the regency in the interest of the country. 
The nobles were convinced that the plans of Mary were for 
the overthrow of their cause, and they passed a bill of sus- 
pension, and she had to retire from the rule of Scotland. 

The Reformation was now being sustained by a higher 
conception of liberty and right, and by a deeper conviction 
of personal, moral responsibility. The cause was full of 
hope ; the end was sure. Many a dark day is yet to come, 
but 'the promise of the end is felt to be secure, and from 
this hour there is no retreat. Through danger, suffering 
and death the work is pushed right forward, and at every 
blow Rome sees that her defeat is coming nearer and nearer, 
and she grows, accordingly, bitter and bigoted. Rome is 
nowhere so near a child, as when she is about to fall. 
When she foresees that she is to be overthrown she becomes 
possessed with something of a spirit of revenge, and seeks 
to be as revengeful, and to cause as much suffering as it 


THE ROM AH PAPACY. 


393 


within her power. In this way does she present to the 
world the heart of the Savior. By these fruits shall she be 
known and judged. 

MARY THE BEAUTIFUL ON THE THRONE. 

Then came Mary, the beautiful, to the throne. Mary 
Stuart, daughter of Mary of Guise and James Y., king of 
Scotland, who was destined to become the most famous of 
the long list of Scottish sovereigns, was born in the palace 
of Linlithgow, seven days before the death of her father. 

Her early childhood was spent in seclusion in Scotland, 
from whence she was removed to France. Here she was 
educated in Homan convents, trained in Jesuit qualities in 
the homes of her uncles, the Cardinal of Lorraine and the 
Duke of Guise, and schooled in French nunneries at the 
impious and immoral court of Paris. 

Shortly after the nobles and barons had solemnly removed 
her mother from the regency she had died ; this was followed 
in a few months by the death of Francis II., and Mary 
Stuart, in losing both her mother and husband, might have 
read an ill omen to the cause of the Papacy in Scotland. 
The death of her husband had removed whatever chance 
there might have been for a union of the thrones of the two 
countries in the interest of the Homan Church 

After a number of consultations with her brother, the 
prior of St. Andrews, Mary concluded to return to her native 
country. It was a few months after the death of her hus- 
band that she embarked for the home of her ancestors. 
The people of all classes gave her a royal welcome. Her 
reception was most flattering, and the country was ready 
to give her a loving trial. At the time the nobles and barons 
were considering the removal of the regent, John Knox, 
who had been asked to advise them as to the rightness of 


394 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


their course, counseled them that whatever act of dismissal 
they might jDass against the regent, it must not mitigate^ 
against their rightful rulers, Francis and Mary Stuart. The^ 
counsel of Knox was now being taken, and the people gave 
the young Queen of Scots a most enthusiastic welcome. 

Because of this willingness of the nation to receive her, 
Mary might have had a happy and peaceful reign. But 
two things stood in the way : the French court life not only 
embellished the beauty and made more graceful the man- 
ners of Mary, but had made her accustomed to a fulsome 
praise to her personal charms, and given her a taste of royal 
prerogative most gratifying to her pride and ambition. 
Then, too, she had come back with that peculiar fickleness, 
which was the result of her Papal training. 

TEEACHEEY OF THE QUEEN. 

Though Mary was received in love by the Scotch, when 
she came to the throne she soon betrayed their love by her 
treachery, and lost their respect by her false dealing and 
French morals. Knox had many a tilt with her. He 
charged her with low views of integrity and Jesuit cunning, 
while he rebuked her for her loose conception of duty, and 
heavily scored her for her frivolity and ungodliness. When 
she showed the least injustice to the Protestants he brought 
all Europe to attention, as he mercilessly rebuked her in 
his preaching. In a private interview with her, he said : 
“ Your will is no reason to us ; we prefer the law of God to 
the wish of the Queen of Scotland.’’ 

The beautiful and accomplished queen turned upon him 
in one day, her smiles, her tears, and her threats. He was 
only moved to say, that he wondered what men should say, 
that at that time of day he was away from his books, and 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


395 


waiting on the court, and he left the palace with a merry 
countenance ; and as he did so he heard a Papal attendant 
say : “ He is not afraid.’’ 

THE PAPAL LEAGUE EXTENDED TO SCOTLAND. 

Again the clouds gather, and a danger the Protestant 
leaders had feared was suddenly to befall them. The 
queen was in secret negotiations with the Papal leaders in 
France, and a move was to be made to reinstate the Roman 
religion in the state, and overthrow the Protestant nobles. 
Friars were employed to officiate at Holyrood palace. The 
Catholic League of France, organized to wrest France from 
the Huguenot power, broadens the scope of its work, and 
made an attempt to combine the Roman Catholic rulers of 
Europe in a concerted move against the Protestants. Early 
in 1566 a special messenger appeared at the Court of Mary 
from the Cardinal of Lorraine, with a copy of the Catholic 
League for extirpating the Protestants. The instructions 
of the Cardinal of Lorraine were, that the queen should set 
her hand and approval to this instrument. Mary did not scru- 
ple. Up to this time she had shown a little disposition to be 
tolerant to the banished Protestants. By the arrival of this 
embassy from the Papal leader in France, the door was 
shut. The Poi^ish ecclesiastics were rapidly restored to 
power, and the Protestant officials about the court were dis- 
missed and persecuted. A war of extermination seemed 
imminent, when the scheme was blasted by the cruel assas- 
sination of Rizzio, the Italian confident of the queen, and 
the chief instigator of the measures against the Protestants. 
He was slain in a secret passage way leading into the queen’s 
apartments, from which he was dragged, with the queen a 
witness. The deed was the result of the jealousy and ha- 
tred of the queen’ s husband, Lord Darnley . It was a stroke 


396 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


of private revenge that he fell under ; but it was regarded 
as a deliberation against the Roman Catholics. The Papal 
agents, and the hangers on about the court were greatly 
alarmed, and fled from the palace. 

MURDER OF LORD DARNLEY. 

The queen left Holyrood, retired to Dunbar Castle, col- 
lected an army, marched upon Edinboro, and flew into a 
passion, which passed away in mere pretension. Her af- 
fection for her husband had long cooled, if it ever existed, 
and by the murder of Rizzio, her feelings towards him were 
turned into loathing and hatred. Soon she gave birth to a 
child ; but the advent of an heir to the throne made no 
amends in their personal relations, and when her child was 
baptized she did not permit him to be present. Disrespect 
drove Lord Darnley from the palace entirely, and he was 
not to return, The queen was easily enticed into improp- 
er relations by her Papal advisers. She began to play with 
matrimonial intrigue with the Earl of Bothwell. Her favor 
for him was open, and highly flavored with honors. She 
gave the whole administration of public affairs into his 
hands, and treated him with marked affection. The queen 
and this earl were badly mixed up in the plot to murder 
her former husband. Darnley, the X30or wretch, was en- 
ticed to a solitary house in the extremity of Edinboro, and 
during the night of February 10th, 1567, his life was de- 
stroyed by an explosion of gunpowder, which had been laid 
beneath the house. 

There is no reasonable doubt but Bothwell was the con- 
triver and the active agent in this murder ; and it is equal- 
ly settled, by the actions of the queen, that she was a party 
to it, at least so far as her knowledge and approval made 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


397 


her accessory. This deed marks one of the darkest days 
of her life. Her conscience was of the pliable, Pax)al 
kind, and did not at the time seem to disturb her much ; 
but the dark complications which thickened about her from 
this day on, moved steadily towards the last, sad act in her 
dramatic life. 

THE QUEEN RESIGNS — EARL OF MURRAY REGENT.. 

In rapid and painful succession the tragic events move 
out from this infamous murder. The nobility combine 
to revenge the death of Darnley, and preserve the infant 
prince ; the queen soon marries Bothwell, the assassin 
speedily he is forced into flight for very safety ; Mary then 
surrenders, is imprisoned, resigns the government ; the in- 
fant prince is declared the king, and the Earl of Murray is 
appointed as regent, during the king’s minority ; the queen 
is conflned in the castle of Lochleven. The Duke of Chas- 
telherault came from France, with large contributions of 
money, made by the Popish princes of Europe in aid of 
the Papacy in Scotland. He entered the country as a lieu- 
tenant of the queen. An insurrection was prevented by 
the watchfulness of the regent Murray. Then the resolution 
was formed to remove Murray from all possibility of fur- 
ther interfering in the Papal plans for Scotland. It was in 
1568 that two persons were employed to assassinate him ; 
but the design was frustrated by early discovery. This did 
not prevent a second attempt. A nephew of the archbishop 
of St. Andrews undertook the task next ; and he was in- 
cited to it by the Papal party. He deliberately followed 
Murray from place to place, to Glasgow, to Sterling, to Lin- 
lithgow, and flnding an opportunity, shot him down, and 
he died the same evening, rejoicing that he had been len~ 


398 


THE BOM AN PAPACY. 


ient even with his enemies who had executed the deed. The 
house, in which the murderer concealed himself, belonged to 
the archbishop of St. Andrew, who acknowledged that he 
was privy and accessory to the deed ; the horse on which 
the murderer escaped belonged to an abbot of Arbroath, by 
name of Hamilton, to whom the assassin quickly rode, 
upon perpetrating the deed, and who received him “with 
great applause.” 

WHY THE ARCHBISHOP WANTED HIM ASSASSINATED. 

There is no just reason for the Popish intrigue to take 
dhe life of Murray, except that he was not willing to be their 
agent. He was in accord with the Protestant cause ; but 
he was as just with the Homan Catholics as with the Prot- 
estants, and was entirely devoid of that bitterness of feel- 
ing which characterized both sides to too great a degree. 
He performed the duties of the regency for the country’s 
good, and gave no disposition to feed his ambition with 
any de'sire for supremacy. He maintained the laws and au- 
thority of the realm with just regard for all classes, and 
always tempered his acts of decision with mercy. He often 
sat in the courts of justice, and exerted his good offices to 
the welfare of all parties. His family circle was more like 
a church than a court. Not a profane or lewd word was 
heard ; while the Bible was read at table, after dinner and 
supper, with instructions thereon. In all its dealings with 
the world the Homan Church acts upon the principle that 
the end j ustifies the means ; and it is as quick to act in as- 
sassination of wholly good and just men, as to murder the 
more extreme in opposition to the Popes. Home at work in 
the political field is foul of heart and base of principle. 
The most corrupting and criminal factors at work in any 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


399 


government, from tlie town council up to the national Con- 
gress, are those which are under her fostering care. It may 
be the Pope; it may be the crafty priest; it may be the 
corrupt bishop ; it may be the Papal legate ; it may be the 
Jesuit ; but whichever, it is Pome. 

PEIESTS INSTIGATE EEBELLION. 

The queen is liberated from prison by the help of the Ro- 
man Catholics. The attempt to restore her by force of re- 
bellion fails, and she is compelled to flee. She resolves to 
entrust herself to her cousin Elizabeth, goes to England, 
and is imprisoned. It is beyond all discovery to find a sat- 
isfactory reason for this course, when she might have gone 
to France, which country was mostly responsible for her 
misfortunes. This is one of the most unaccountable of her 
many strange freaks. 

WHAT LED TO THE QUEEN’S DEATH. 

For almost twenty years she lingers in the English prison, 
where she was confined by direction of the English queen. 

The Papacy was done for in Scotland. The parliament 
of 1560 declared an act to abolish the Papal jurisdiction in 
the realm. This gave legal standing to what had already 
been accomplished in fact. But in spite of this law of 
parliament, and the disestablishment of the Papacy as 
carried out in the administration of affairs, the Pope and 
his agents, all through the last troubled years of Mary, and 
after her abdication of the throne, and through her impris- 
onment in England, kept up their evil plans for the restora- 
tion of the Papacy, and the consequent return of Papal 
power and oppression. And finally these Popish hatchings 
of crime led to Mary’s death. 


400 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


It was a pliantorn of hope pursued by Catholic Europe- 
for years, that England was to be brought back to the 
Papacy through Mary Stuart. All the. plots for the assassi- 
nation of Queen Elizabeth, and these were many, all of the 
plots for the overthrow of the Protestantism of England, 
and these were many, were considered with Mary Stuart as 
a known quantity. The frequency of these conspiracies, 
and the fear that the effort would yet succeed, forced her 
advisers to urge Elizabeth to bring Mary to trial and exe- 
cution. 


DAMAGmG JESUIT AUTHOEITY. 

According to the Jesuit Stevenson, Mary and her secre- 
taries were led to correspond with the conspirators, though 
it should be said that when her letters were produced against 
her, she denied their authenticity. The trial followed at 
Fortheringay Castle, and, with one exception, they found 
Mary guilty. 

The Roman Catholic party controlled nearly all the north- 
ern section of Scotland. They were both discomfited and 
enraged. They knew that Philip II. was engaged in prodi- 
gious preparations to invade England. The English people 
had given shelter and aid to the persecuted Protestants in 
Flanders — persecuted by Philip. This made England still 
more odious to Spain. Then, too, according to Stevenson, 
whose confessions we find so valuable, it was also “intended 
to hurl Queen Elizabeth from the throne, and restore the 
Catholic religion in England.” 

Several times a Papal invasion of England had been con- 
ceived. The Duke of Alva, then Don John of Austria, 
then the Duke of Guise, and more recently the Marquis de 
Santa Cruz, was, each one, to have tried it. The plans were 


THE ROHAN PAPACY. 


401 


much alike as to intentions. They all contemplated that 
the house of Guise was to take a leading part ; Elizabeth 
was to be murdered, the Roman Catholics were to be re- 
stored, Mary Stuart was to be made queen of England, 
Papal authority was to be again returned; Scotland and 
Holland, and probably Germany, were to be returned to the 
Papal allegiance. 

It was finally brought to the consideration of Philip II. 
in a way to induce him to try it. Philip of Spain was the 
secular head of the Catholic world, at a time when the na- 
tions were drifting from the idea of the temporal power of 
the Pope. He had to give countenance to all the Papal 
intrigues looking to the overthrow of Protestant England, 
including, as most of them did, the assassination of the 
queen. 

ACCOEDING TO PAPAL MOKALS MUKDEE IS EIGHT. 

To kill those who opposed the Papacy was thought right. . 
Admiral Coligny was shot by an assassin, with the approval 
of the Romish Church. William of Orange was murdered,, 
and in the Roman Catholic interest, and with the approval 
of Philip. Henri Quartre was murdered in the Papal interest. 
And any one could do the same with the English queen, and 
have the approval of the Pope, and the consent of Philip. 

The preparations in Spain to give a blow to England, met 
a response among the Roman Catholics in Scotland. They 
welcomed the Spanish invasion, opened up communications,, 
abetted the enterprise, took up arms. They had represen- 
tatives under Lord Maxwell in Spain. Upon their return 
an armed force immediately proceeded to subdue the west 
coast, and open a door for the landing of the Spanish. 
Armada, if it be found advantageous to do so. 


402 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


The invasion was aided in England by the Jesuits, many 
of whom were educated at Oxford, and hated the Protest- 
ants with a perfect frenzy. 

THE SPANISH ARMADA. 

The ports of Spain, Italy, Portugal, and all the maritime 
provinces of Spain, had long resounded with the noise of 
the preparations. When completed, the armament was the 
most powerful which has set sail in modern times, perhaps 
in all times. Roman Catholic soldiers had collected from 
every corner of the world : Spanish and Italian, French and 
Irish, German and Swiss, and even Portugese ; though the 
latter country was most indifferent, as it had just been 
added to the Spanish domain by force, and the wound was 
yet raw. These were trained men, too, both those of the 
troop and the marines. When the great Armada was final- 
ly put under sail it consisted of one hundred and thirty- 
one great war ships, thirty small ships, nearly twenty thous- 
and marines, over eight thousand sailors, more than two 
thousand slaves, and over twenty-six thousand cannon. The 
sailors were ‘those who had been trained under the ex- 
perienced Santa Cruz, and there were none better in the 
world. In addition to this equipment, the Duke of Parma 
had gathered an army of thirty thousand men in Flanders, 
and awaited the Armada to protect the ships as they ef- 
fected a passage of the channel. A regiment of priests ac- 
companied the Armada to keep alive the Catholic enthu- 
siasm ; there being one hundred and eighty priests and 
monks, to but eighty-five surgeons, including assistants, in 
the whole fieet. It was provisioned to feed forty thousand 
men for six months. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


403 


The Protestants of Europe looked upon this enterprise as 
the critical event, which was to decide the fate of the Ref- 
ormation. 

THE CEISIS OF THE WHOLE CONFLICT HAD COME. 

The Armada was intended by Philip II. not only to re- 
store the Papal authority in England, but extend the Span- 
ish dominion up the Thames ; and the Pope, looking be- 
yond this, expected to see his rule made once more co-ex- 
tensive with all thrones and empires. • 

No move of Papal Europe ever created such consterna- 
tion. There was fear, bustle and hurry in every English 
home, and the nation began herculean efforts. It was felt 
that the crisis of the whole conflict was at hand. 

If the Armada had proven successful, France was to 
strike, Scotland was sure to do the same, Holland was 
engaged in what seemed to be a death struggle herself ; her 
great William had fallen under the shot of the hired assas- 
sin of Philip. Had the Armada attained its end as pro- 
posed by the Papal conspirators, Spain, the Papacy, and the 
Latin race would have triumphed in both the old world and 
the new. It was truly a momentous hour in human history. 
Ages hung on the hinges of that move. Which way would 
it swing ? 

England’s Protestant Queen only had eighty ships with 
which to oppose the Armada. . But the English people who 
stood for liberty and progress rose to the situation, and 
made stupendous preparations to prevent a landing ; and 
in this many Roman Catholics united, so unwelcome was 
the prospect of a renewal of the Papal rule in that country. 


404 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


DECLARED INTENTION OF THE EXPEDITION. 

But the defeat of the Invincible Armada, as it was called,, 
was the most complete and humiliating on record. The 
sailing orders of the commander read that the object of the 
expendition was to recover countries to the Church ‘‘now 
oppressed by the enemies of the faith.” The Pope had 
contributed money ; the prayers of innumerable priests 
had been ascending for more than a year for the attainment 
of the plan ; mass had been said at more than twice fifty- 
thousand altars for the triumph of the Lord to attend it. 
But Providence was not once more to be found on the side 
of the heaviest battalions. From the very day of sailing 
the fieet met with disaster, and misfortune hovered about 
like a nightmare. When the first contest came the fieet 
had swung around a neck of land, like a great crescent moon, 
with a distance of seven miles between the horns. The 
English admirals fell upon this crescent wall of ships with a 
heavy fire, and soon gained a victory. Almost daily the 
Armada battled, first with the English ships, and then 
with the terrific storms of the English channel. When 
the final contest came the Spanish fleet fought with desperate 
bravery. Not a ship struck her colors. Men stood at the 
guns until the powder was all gone. In half the ships not 
a single round of powder remained, and with the rise of the 
wind the fleet put off to sea, only to meet with a still worse 
defeat from the winds. The greatest destruction came to 
the Armada in Sligo Bay, where a succession of violent 
storms scattered, and almost entirely destroyed, the fleet. 

HOW THE KING REGARDED THE DEFEAT. 

The army in Flanders, under Parma, had not attempted 
the passage of the channel. So the whole measure was as 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


405 


stupendous a failure as the undertaking was vast and impos- 
ing. The whole history of civilization has been thrown in- 
to new and grander channels because of the defeat and de- 
struction of the Invincible Spanish Armada. It was the 
clearest indication which the Papacy had yet had, that 
Providence was on the side of the Protestant nations. Philip 
II. so regarded the issue. 

NEW JESUIT PLOT. 

Heavy as this blow was, it did not quiet the Papal party 
in Scotland. The Roman Catholics in that country did not 
suffer so greatly by the Armada failure, as they had fur- 
nished counsel rather than the sinews of war. A small force 
had been raised on the west coast, but was not required. 
But now the Catholic party projected a new plot for the 
overthrow of the Protestants in Scotland and England. 
They renewed their intercourse with Spain. The Roman 
Catholic nobles sent an agent to the king, promising that 
they would give all help in their power, if he would make 
an attempt of some kind upon the Queen of England ; or if 
he preferred, they would themselves open the war upon her 
in the interest of the Church, if he would send them aid. 
This agent was Ker, who was seized, and made such damag- 
ing disclosures as to implicate nearly all the leading Roman 
•Catholic nobles of the realm. Thirteen of the nobles at this 
time were Catholics, mostly those of the north. This plot 
was discovered in time to prevent another war for extermina- 
tion being attempted against the Protestants. 

CIVIL WAK COMES FROM PAPAL INTRIGUE. 

The next step was a plot with the Pope himself. James 
VI. sent the Roman Catholic diplomats, Gordon and Crich- 
ton, secretly to Rome for the purpose of laying the whole 


406 


THE BO MAN PAPACY. 


matter before the Pope, and arranging a final plan for re- 
storing the Church to power. These agents returned from 
their mission with a special legate, the cunning and crafty 
Sampiretti, who bore the sum of forty thousand ducats 
from the Pope, who further promised a monthly allowance 
of ten thousand ducats. As the party landed at Aberdeen, 
July 6th, 1594, the legate was seized, with the important 
documents in his possession. At this James became 
frightened, and to turn suspicion from himself he turned 
against the Catholic nobles, and the scheme again failed, 
though civil war followed, and the great distress which was 
experienced must be accredited to that unholy Papal 
intrigue against the nation. 

JESUITS DECLAEED TEAITORS. 

It was seen that the Jesuits were at the bottom of these 
conspiracies, and a bill was passed parliament declaring all 
Jesuits and Semanarists to be traitors and rebels, subject to 
the penalties of high treason, and those who associated with 
them were considered traitors. 

Still the Jesuits hung about the court, and schemed for 
the re-establishment of the Papacy. James had married a 
Protestant lad y— Anne of Denmark. But Papal diplomacy 
was not baffled. A Jesuit priest, Abercromby, was worked 
into the palace, and lived there for two years. During 
this time the queen spent an hour every morning in his 
apartment, receiving instruction and giving her confession, 
which included even private talks between herself and her 
husband; and partaking of the sacrament. This priest 
gradually induced her to have none but Roman Catholic 
ladies in the court. This led to the daughter of the king 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


407 


being brought up wholly in Papal associations. And the 
king was led to dispatch secret Roman agents to all the 
Catholic courts of Europe. And this is to make it clear to 
us that the Roman Catholic courts were still banded, and 
were negotiating for the overthrow of the Protestant nations. 

If these reflections seem severe, let it be known that they 
are all revealed in the confessions of the Jesuit, Stevenson, 
and by the letters of the Jesuit spies in Scotland, written to 
the Pope and to the general of the Jesuit order, Aquaviva. 

PAPACY PERMANENTLY OVERTHROWN. 

But the Papacy was done for in Scotland. It lingered to 
form evil plots, and devise crimes against the well-being of 
the country, and the established order of things ; but in 
spite of the Jesuit intrigues and Popish interference, the 
Protestantism of the land was perhaps better and more firm- 
ly secured than in any other of the nations. The beneficent 
influence upon the world, of the higher moral and intellect- 
ual impulse of Scotch civilization, has not been paralleled 
by that of any other country ; while the Scotch influence 
upon educational institutions, and the contribution of 
Scotland to the ranks of illustrious men, have been most re- 
markable. In the sixteenth century already Scotland 
brings forth the intellectual giants of Europe. The Scotch 
Reformation invaded the university, as well as the pulpit 
and the home. The Reformation in that land upheld 
scholarship, even with piety. The early Scotch Book of 
Discipline of the Reformed Church in Scotland contains a 
most thorough system of education. Education was looked 
upon as a religious duty, which they owed to God, as well 
as to themselves. 


408 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


OUE CIVIL ATTD EELIGIOUS LIBERTIES ADVANCED. 

Our civil and religious liberties have received incalcula- 
ble benefits from the Scotch war upon the Papacy ; 
while the moral progress of the nation has been aided by 
those stout-hearted reformers to a most prodigious extent. 
As we think of them, meeting on the dark morasses, in the 
forests and among the hills, drinking peat water, and sleep- 
ing on heather, we are reminded of the times of Israel’s 
prophets ; of Moses wandering about the foot of the moun- 
tain, which he is to climb in a mission to the fire-girt foot 
of God ; of Elijah in the cave listening to the mighty wind, 
the earthquake and the fire-chariots which go before the 
Lord ; of Ezekiel, astonished on the banks of the Chebar, 
or gazing on the valley of dry bones ; of John the Baptist, 
feeding on locusts and wild honey in the lone wilderness, 
and clad in garments of camel’s hair. They were the pro- 
genitors of mighty men and women in all lines of heroic 
effort and courageous action. 

Let it be pondered upon, that it was mostly the reverent 
treatment of the Bible in the Reformation that made the 
very tone and fibre of that great national uplift. Truly, 
the “Holy Bible, Book Divine,” has been just such an in- 
spiration to Scotland, such a solace to her poor, and such a 
foundation to her characteristic of dominant intellectual 
power, as is portrayed in the picture drawn by Burns, in 
“ The Cotter’s Saturday Night 

“ The cheerfu’ supper done wi’ serious face, 

They, round the ingle, form a circle wide ; 

The sire turns o’er, wi’ patriarchal grace. 

The big ha’-Bible, ance his father’s pride : 

His bonnet rev’rently is laid aside. 

His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare ; 

Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide. 

He wales a portion with judicious care ; 

And ‘Let us worship God, ’ he says, with solemn air.” 


UNPAID DEBT TO SCOTCH PATRIOTS. 


Patriots have toiled, and in their country’s cause 
Bled nobly ; and their deeds, as they deserve. 
Receive proud recompense. 

But fairer wreaths are due, though never paid. 

To those who, posted at the shrine of Truth, 
Have fallen in her defence, — 

Yet few remember them. 

With their names 

No bard embalms and sanctifies his song ; 

And history, so warm on meaner themes. 

Is cold on this. She execrates, indeed. 

The tyranny that doomed them to the fire. 

But gives the glorious sufferers little praise.’' 


Is THE Roman Church organ- 
ized TO OVERTHROW FREE IN- 
STITUTIONS? 

In every Roman institution in America, atoms are 
amassing, insensible particles are combining and as- 
sembling for that mighty power at Rome, who seeks to 
scourge us and take away our nation. 

Anna Ella Carroll. 

(Daughter of the Roman Catholic Gov. Carroll, Md.)> 


PART XIII. 


PLOTS TO MURDER— CONSPIRACIES AGAINST 
ENGLAND— PAPAL WOMANHOOD. 

The attempt to unite the crowns of Scotland and France 
was made under Papal advisement. Early in the sixteenth 
century the Papacy girded its loins for a desperate conflict. 
Parliaments, councils and thrones were drawn into the vor- 
tex. One of the first acts of James Y., in coming to the 
throne of Scotland, was to write a letter to the Pope, assur- 
ing him of his affection and allegiance. He was a boy of 
twelve years or less, so this act was under Papal direction 
of bishop or cardinal. When James was twenty-four, he 
went to France to marry Madeleine, daughter of Francis I., 
King of France. This was an arrangement of the Church. 
The king had sent Cardinal Beaton several times to France 
as ambassador, and at one time he was instructed to devise 
the best way to unite the two countries in Papal bonds. 
About this time some sort of a coalition was formed be- 
tween Francis I. and Charles Y., of Germany. It was a 
Papal matter. And it was intended to accomplish an inva- 
sion of England. It was through Beaton that the marriage^ 
was arranged between James and Madeleine. 

( 411 ) 


412 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


The Pope’s nuncio at Paris advised him to sanction the 
marriage, as happy results would naturally follow. The 
English ambassador complained to the Papal nuncio, as he 
foresaw certain troubles for the nations. At the nuptials a 
letter of approval and blessing was presented from Pope 
Paul. 


EOMAN DIPLOMACY AND EOYAL MAEEIAGES. 

This was in midwinter. Before midsummer the frail 
woman from sunny France lay in Holyrood royal church- 
yard. The next spring James made another Papal match ; 
this time marrying Mary of Guise, who was also a French 
woman. This match was also arranged by the Scotch Arch- 
bishop Beaton, who had had his hand in the former mar- 
riage of his king. Stephenson, the Jesuit author, testifies 
that this alliance, more than the other, was in the interest 
of the Papacy and France. 

THE AECHBISHOP PEESENTS A FOEGED WILL. 

Disheartened by the defeat of his army, off Solway Moss, 
King James dies, December 14, 1542. His reign was made 
miserable for himself, and unhappy for his country, because 
of the excessive infiuence of Beaton, who was the willing 
tool of France and the Papacy. He induced James to al- 
low the Eomish clergy to nominate the Lord Chief Justice, 
before whom the nobles, who read the Bible and argued 
against the Pope, should be tried, and have their property 
confiscated. It was a complete domination of the ecclesias- 
tical power over the government. Several days before the 
death of James V., his daughter Mary was born in Linlith- 
gow Palace. The Homan intermeddlers at once began the 
policy of control, which was to bring blood and wars to the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


4ia 


nations, and finally bring Mary Stuart, most beautiful of 
Scottish queens, to the block. Upon the death of her 
father, the king, the Earl of Arran, by constitutional right, 
was acknowledged generally as regent, and as having in 
custody the young queen. But Archbishop Beaton im- 
mediately called an ecclesiastical council at St. Andrews, 
which decided to unseat the Earl, maintain at all hazards 
allegiance to Borne, and control the person of the infant 
Mary. He presented a forged will of the late king, by 
which he was to have the guardianship of the child and 
the government of the realm. 

This was successful, and the archbishop, without 
any constitutional right, and without the assent of 
the barons, assumed the government, and sent at once 
an agent to the King of France, asking for aid. And 
while his agent in France is negotiating for two thousand 
men, under de Lorgen, a Papal officer of great reputation, 
he was laying a successful plan to kidnap the child queen* 

FIEST DUTY OF PATEIOTISM WITH US. 

Here is one of a score of instances, occurring in a single 
century, where the Papal Church organized a successful 
conspiracy against the established form of government, and 
this most treasonable political crime the Papacy has been 
guilty of in every country on the planet. If there be such 
a thing as a common morality of patriotism, permeating 
civilized peoples, standing for the right of constitutional 
and established laws and liberties, and demanding this right, 
and able to procure it, it would seem that one of the first 
evils to which it must attend is this everlasting Papal 
crime against governments. 


414 


THE HOMAN PAPACY. 


A VISIT TO THE APARTMENTS OF MARY STUART. 

Well does the writer remember the morning, when first 
he crossed the threshold of the apartments of Mary Stuart, 
Queen of Scots. It was a J une morning when he turned his 
back on Edinboro Castle, and walked slowly down Canon- 
gate Street, to Holyrood Palace, a mile away. Old Canon- 
gate is Scottish history fossilized. Here every tall building, 
with its winding stairs, armorial bearings, tapestried walls, 
and crazy roofs, has its tragic story of heroism, romance, 
and crime. Down this street tramped the followers of 
Douglas, and marched the courtiers of Queen Mary ; James 
rode up this street to Flodden Field ; here Jenny Oeddes 
flung the stool at the priest ; up this street came John 
Knox to his house, after his interview with Mary at Holy- 
rood ; here David Hume thought out his opinions on king- 
craft and priestcraft ; here Burns, the Ayrshire farmer, un- 
covered his head before the grave of poor Furgesson ; down 
this street, too, daily limped the boy, Walter Scott, peering 
into every close and lounging at every tavern. At every 
step is met some ghost of the long ago, and the shadows of 
centuries fall in grotesque figures over your path. At the 
very head of Canongate is Holyrood Palace, “a deserted 
palace where no monarch dwells.” Partly built in the six- 
teenth century by James Y., it has locked in its now silent 
tombs the history of Scottish royalty, from that date until 
its overthrow. The most interesting portion of the palace 
is that which contains the apartments of Queen Mary, the 
loveliest woman of her age, the most unfortunate of her cen- 
tury. Here are her private rooms of oak-finished panels, 
tapestried walls, a fireplace of antique arabesque work, over 
which is a painting of Venice, and the queen’s bed, with its 
hangings of crimson damask, with green silk fringes and 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


415 


tassels. By the side of these historic chambers is the secret 
staircase, by which the assassins of Rizzio approached the 
royal rooms ; and at its top is the closet, where on the night 
of the 9th of March, 1566, the unfortunate man was 
stabbed, as he clung to the queen, and then, torn from her, 
was hurried from the room, receiving nearly fifty wounds 
by the daggers of the lords, before he fell at the head of the 
staircase. Dark stains on the fioor yet tell the story of 
blood and crime. How strange the feelings which over- 
come one, as he takes a glance at the stone step of the 
altar, on which Mary knelt the ill-starred night she married 
Darnley ; and then passing out into the court-yard, pauses, 
in meditation of these awful times, before the grave of 
Madeleine, the first wife of James V., by whom Scotland’s 
ill-fated destiny, for a period, was tied to Papal France. 

One of the most interesting characters of history is this 
Papal queen, Mary Stuart, whose royal father was as much 
of a victim, as he was a willing tool, of the Scottish Papacy, 
and whose mother belonged to a leading family of Papal 
France, which long dominated in Romish intrigues, con- 
spiracies and crimes in that country. When Mary was five 
years old she was taken to the Priory on the island of 
Inchmehome, in whose cloisters she could early begin her 
Romish training. Her two teachers were, one a priest and 
the other a prior. 

AN AGE OF FEENCH DEBAUCHERY. 

When Mary was six years old she was taken to France. 
How ill a place for the education of the future monarch of 
Scotland, was the French court and cloister, is understood, 
if we remember the character of the court at Paris at this 
time. The morals of the court are shown by the rebuke of 
a Christian girl, as they were leading her to the stake : 


416 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Sir, had you found me in a brothel, as you find me now 
in so holy and honorable a company, you would not have 
used me thus.” At this time the women of the French 
court were profiigate and vain, and had acquired complete 
ascendency in the affairs of the realm, which enabled them, 
for several reigns, to place and depose ministers, marshals 
and judges, and to dictate the policy of the empire. It was 
an age of debauchery. The wits and poets fiocked to the 
court to play in this loose society, and by their writings 
helped to lower morals, and by unchaste songs and profane 
epigram turned chastity into prudery. The court life was 
made up of a mixture of four classes, lewd women, atheistic 
bishops, servile wits, and scheming Papal courtiers. 

The atheism, bigotry, and immorality breeded by this 
court, began to prepare for the awful revolution which was 
to come to France in the eighteenth century. 

Such was the social and intellectual food, which mad- 
dened the brain and inflamed the passionate heart of the 
beautiful young girl. Her ecclesiastical and political asso- 
ciations were equally bad. She was under her uncles, the 
Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine. These Papal 
agents were deep in the plot for the extermination of the 
French Protestants, and had as little sense of honor as they 
had character, to their motives. They were men whose 
chief characteristics may be looked for in the fox, the hyena, 
and the wolf. It was a sorry day for Mary, and Scotland, 
and almost the whole world, when she fell to their care and 
training for a period of about eleven years. 

Through these years, every kind of debauchery and every 
form of murder furnished a daily cause for excitement, or 
subject for jest about the court ; whilst Papal intrigues and 
bigotries were the common topic for conversation at the 
convent and in the homes of her uncles. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


417 


MARRIED TO AM IMBECILE. 

Mary was sixteen, and to be married to an imbecile. She 
was engaged to Francis, the most debauched of the sons of 
the unprincipled Catherine de Medicis, and heir to the 
French throne. 


INFAMOUS CRIME EXACTED. 

Just before her marriage, Mary was induced to do a very 
infamous thing. The king and her uncles took advantage 
of her youth and inexperience. She was fairly forced to 
sign three papers, the design of which was to further bind 
Scotland to France, and the Papacy. The first of these 
documents gave to the King of France, and his heirs, the 
right of succession to the throne of Scotland, in case of her 
death without giving birth to an heir. And, also included 
in this paper, she signed away her claim, whatever it might 
be, to the crown of England. In the second paper she 
deeded to the French king, from the revenues of Scotland, 
a million crowns of gold, which the king claimed, to meet 
his bill for her expenses while she had been in France. By 
the third paper she deprived herself of all future right to 
change, or invalidate these documents. What a fraudulent 
and diabolical measure this was, to be sure. Mary’ s uncles, 
the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, urged 
these papers upon her favor. It is the testimony of Stephen- 
son that she was completely under them. These docu- 
ments were signed at Fontaineblau, and then Mary was 
conducted to Paris for her marriage. 

This was celebrated in an open pavilion in front of Notre 
Dame, April 25, 1558, with pomp and show, quite to the 
glory of the French people. It was a regal Papal affair, 
there being present, besides cardinals, legates and arch- 
bishops, eighteen bishops and mitred abbots. 


418 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


SAD EESULT OF PAPAL INTERMEDDLING. 

Brilliant, beautiful, inconstant Mary was easily duped, 
and the King of France, and her husband, soon led her in- 
to a foolish act, which was to bring upon her the enmity of 
Queen Elizabeth of England, but which was intended to be 
a move in the interest of France, and against the Protest- 
antism of England. Her right to the throne of England 
rested upon the faintest possible ground and depended 
upon possibilities so remote as to be hardly supposable ; 
and any sensible person in her situation would have 
given no thought to such a dream. But upon her mar- 
riage with Francis, she was induced to place the arms 
of England, in conjunction with the crest of Scotland, on 
her private seal. This was serving notice to all the powers 
that she had in mind a claim to the throne of England. 
Poor Mary ! had she seen into the future, all the powers of 
France could not have forced her to perform such an un- 
wise act. By this performance she prepared the way for 
the speedy beginning of her dark tragedy. When the 
bishops of the Romish hierarchy in France, by the aid of 
the king and her husband, led her to make use of the arms 
of England on her own crest, and induced her to permit 
herself to be called ‘‘Queen of England,” they intended 
that it should mean, that the Protestant Queen Elizabeth 
was to be regarded as a bastard. And in this, these mis- 
erable meddlers furnished the cause for this sad rivalry be- 
tween the Scotch and English queens, which terminated in 
the imprisonment of Mary and her death. 

Fifteen months after her marriage, Mary’s husband as- 
cended the throne of France, under the title of Francis II. 
The government was now practically given over to the Ro- 
man Catholic Cardinal of Lorraine and the Duke of Gruise. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


419 


The Jesuit Stephenson says : ‘‘ They ruled almost entirely 
during Mary’s reign, and it was no secret, that a ruling 
principle with them was intolerance of Protestantism.” 

In little more than a year Francis II. was dead, and 
Mary was a widow, and only eighteen, and her sorrows be- 
gan, which, all through her life, were to be burdened by 
great troubles, brought upon her wholly by her Popish ad- 
visers. She would not even reply to the letters, which 
came to her from Scotch nobles, without consulting her 
uncles, whose influence here, as in all her affairs, was notice- 
able, and in the interest of the Papacy. The Duke of 
Guise wanted her to marry Don Carlos of Spain, which 
would have greatly advanced the House of Guise, and 
promoted the Papal ambitions. Admiral Coligny repre- 
sented to the English ambassador that he feared the progress 
had gone too far to be broken off. 

THE QUEEN CONFESSES PAPAL POWER OVER HER. 

Just before she left the country, in a conversation at St. 
Germain, with the English ambassador, Mary admits she 
had followed entirely her uncles and her husband, and King 
Henry ; and because of such counselors she had not treated 
the Protestant Queen of England right, in the matter of the 
treaty of Edinboro, and had declared herself Queen of Eng- 
land, and used the arms of England along with her own 
devise. 

The time had arrived for Mary to return to her own 
country, and become the acting Queen of Scotland. Both 
the Protestant and Catholic nobles sent deputations to in- 
vite her to the throne. Lesly was the commissioned leader 
on the Homan Catholic side. On the occasion of his inter- 
view with her, he took opportunity to excite her to anger 


420 


THE ROMAN RAP ACT. 


against her Protestant subjects, and tried to persuade her 
to entirely throw herself upon those who were of her own 
religion. 

After an absence of twelve years, and not yet twenty years 
old, Mary lands at Leith, on her homeward journey, and 
proceeds to Edinboro to take the sceptre. All parties and 
every class gave her a welcome royal. She might have 
been a ruler most popular, and equally loved, had she 
taken a different course. But the black art of Jesuit di- 
plomacy had charmed her, and she could not shake it off. 
An ambassador from the French court appeared in Scot- 
land, and laid before the Roman Catholic nobles a plan for 
the renewal of the alliance of the two countries, under the 
protectorate of the Papacy. 

DANGER FROM ROMAN CATHOLIC RULERS. 

The Roman Catholic nobles at once sought to compel the 
queen to force the Catholic religion upon all her subjects. 
They appealed to her uncles in France. And they wrote her 
that if she should refuse to be guided by them, and render 
herself subservient to their views, they would organize a 
formidable party against her. This had the desired effect 
and Mary was whipped into the policy. 

During the Council of Trent, the Pope sent an envoy on 
a secret mission to Mary. This Papal legate was sent 
through the Provincial General of the Jesuits, and was him- 
self a Jesuit. It was Nicholas de Gouda. Mary secretly 
received him, while the court was at church. The services, 
that day were of unusual brevity, and some of the court 
ministers, returning unexpectedly, were about to usher the 
•English ambassador into the queen’s cabinet room, when 
a female sentinel suddenly pushed the envoy into a private 


THE MOMAH PAPACY. 


421 


postern, under the tapestry, else he would have been de- 
tected in his clandestine dealings with royalty, and arrested, 
too, as a foreign intermeddler, from the Pope. 

FAMOUS JESUIT INTEEVIEW. 

According to Stephenson, this de Gouda gives a full 
report of his experiences in Scotland, in a letter preserved 
in the Vatican chambers. By this letter we learn that it 
was rumored in Scotland that a legate was to appear with 
full powers of a Papal nuncio ; that the excitement was so 
great that he had to be concealed upon his arrival ; that he 
had to wait two months before he could see the queen ; that 
the queen sent him word to appear at the palace at the hour 
when her courtiers were at the sermon ; that he was secretly 
received, and had a hurried interview with her; that in this 
interview he assured her of the favor of the Pope, and ex- 
horted her to remain faithful to the Church ; and further, 
that he urged her to more severe measures in destroying 
heresy, and that he carried important letters to the bishops, 
which he could not deliver through personal fear. He re- 
ports to the General of the Jesuit order how, in his opinion, 
the country is to be brought back to the Catholic faith. 
First, it was absolutely necessary that the queen should 
marry a powerful Catholic prince ; next, she must have 
Roman Catholics as chief officials and ministers of the gov- 
ernment ; then the Pope should send a sufficient number of 
legates, vested with full power, to enforce discipline ; lastly. 
King Philip of Spain must be induced to promise aid to the 
queen, against England. This Jesuit sneak took a number 
of young men out of Scotland with him, and put them in 
Jesuit training, in the Jesuit schools of Europe, and some 
of these in after years became famous Jesuit conspirators. 


422 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


It may be reasonably presumed that Mary would have 
extended both tolerance and protection to all the Protest- 
ant interests but for the daily and excessive influence of 
the Pomish horde about her. There has nothing like it 
appeared thus far in history. Her uncles, by special 
agents and uninterrupted letters, the Pope, and his regular 
installment of secret nuncios ; the Jesuits and their tools, 
the Scotch bishop and cardinal ; and last, but not of least 
power, the ugly and base Pizzio, who hung about the queen 
like some spy on an errand from the devil. In spite of all 
this, she gave some little evidence of showing regard for 
the rights of the Protestant religion, which she found es- 
tablished in the country upon taking the throne 

CAUSE OF THE QUEEN’ S BIGOTKY. 

But Pome would not leave her alone, until Papal influence 
inspired her with a favorite passion, and that was the re- 
es tablishment of the Poman religion. This she promises the 
Pope, who, upon her joining the league of Bayonne, dis- 
patches a letter to her, by special nuncio, by whom he also 
sends a present of twenty thousand crowns. This nuncio 
was detained at Paris because of the intense feeling in the 
country. The Pope also promised her a subsidy of eight 
thousand crowns. In connection with all this, Mary was 
encouraged in keeping up a dangerous correspondence with 
leading foreign Catholics. As a result of all this she finally 
declared, to the Protestant leaders, and in strong terms, 
that it was her determination to restore in full the Catholic 
religion. 

One of the most aggravating influences over her, and 
operating in the interest of bigotry and persecution, was 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


423 


that of the perpetual whipping in of the Romish leaders of 
France, who urged upon her the policy of Mary Tudor of 
England. She was queen of England preceding Elizabeth, 
and her five short years on the throne were so intensely 
Papal in fanaticism, tyranny and cruelty, that she won the 
title of “Bloody Mary.” Yet she is held up before the 
Scotch queen as a model ; and to encourage her in the ways 
of the English Mary, the Pope sent a large sum of money 
to be used in making war upon the heretics. 

CIVIL WAK PEOVOKED. 

While the French Papists are urging her to follow the 
“ Bloody Mary” of England, and destroy the Protestants, 
one of her own nobles, the Roman Catholic Earl of Huntly, 
is holding frequent meetings with her, devising some way 
to restore the Papacy. He prevails upon her secretary, 
Rizzio, who was in constant communication with the Cardi- 
dinal of Lorraine and the Duke of Guise, to use all his 
efforts upon the queen. Rizzio was Mary’s confident. He 
finally induced the queen to permit Huntly to undertake to 
restore through the realm the Papal power. This led to 
the War of the Nobles, and surely to the death of the de- 
formed little Jesuit, Rizzio. 

The troubled stream of her unhappy life seemed, natur- 
ally, to sweep her into the marriage with Lord Darnley, her 
cousin, and one of the Roman Catholic leaders. She had 
the Pope’s consent to this match, but did not seek the 
assent of her parliament, or the approval of her country. 
Upon her marriage with Darnley, she proclaimed that all 
state documents and writs at law should be made in the 
name of the king and queen. 


424 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


A CONFEDERATION TO OVERTHROW LIBERTIES. 

It was not her right to choose a husband without the con- 
sent of parliament, and still more, had she no right to con- 
fer, by private authority, without act of parliament, the 
title and dignity of king upon her husband. There could 
be no stronger proof of the foolhardiness of her advisers. 

Darnley was low, unprincipled and profligate, and led his 
royal wife into a life of deepening gloom, and it was to be 
the night of gloom that knew no dawn. It was at this period 
that the Pope’ s envoy came from France, bearing a report 
of the Papal conference at Bayonne, in France, between 
Catherine de Medicis and Alva, arranging for the extermina- 
tion of the Protestants throughout the earth. This was 
with the approval of the Cardinal of Lorraine and Pope 
Pius the lY. ; Mary was applied to for co-operation. She 
promptly joined this confederation, formed for the destruc- 
tion of the civil and religious liberties of Europe. She at 
once grew more bitter towards the Protestant nobles. In 
pursuing this Papal course, she made an immense contribu- 
tion to her own future calamities, and a civil war in her own 
country. 

What murders and assassinations ! Bizzio was barbar- 
ously cut down in the queen’s chamber. Darnley soon 
afterwards became the victim of the Earl of Murray, and 
was blown up with gun powder. Mary soon marries one of 
the conspirators, the Earl of Both well; in another three 
years Murray, who was regent now, upon the forced abdi- 
cation of the queen, was assassinated. He was succeeded 
in the regency by the Earl of Lennox, who soon fell by the 
shot of the assassin. The Earl of Morton became regent, 
and was executed upon the elevation of James YI. to the 
throne. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


425 


Mary’s troubles, because of her Papal adherence, deepened 
to the end. Certainly the leading cause of her own unhap- 
piness and misfortunes, and the unutterable miseries she 
entailed upon her country, was the vicious pressure of her 
Popish masters. She knowingly x)ermitted the Jesuit in- 
stigators of war to travel about, stirring up the people to 
rebel. The Jesuit, Hay, went spying about in Scotland at 
one time, and made a report of his observations and con- 
clusions to the Provincial General of the Jesuit order. In 
this letter to his superior, he advises that members of the 
order be sent into the northern district of Scotland ; and 
that, upon the first occurrence of civil war, they should ac- 
complish the expulsion of the Protestant ministers and 
transfer all revenues, held by the heretics, to the Catholic 
nobles. 


VICTIM OF THE ARCHBISHOP. 

At last poor Mary finds herself in prison, in her own land. 
She was held in the island castle of Lochleven. By her 
rare charms she moved upon the keeper’s brother to effect 
her escape. He procured the key, opened her door and the 
castle gates, and then threw the key into the lake. She 
fied to the west. In a few days a splendid train of nobles 
and an army six thousand strong awaited her command. 
It was a foolish thing, and the worst possible for poor Mary, 
but her advisers were bent on a fight. The archbishop of 
St. Andrews saw a chance to get the queen in his own 
hands, and induce her to commit the affairs of the state to 
himself. His ambition proved her greatest tragedy. 

Near Dumbarton, on a hillside, stood Mary and watched 
the engagement. When she saw the army, which was her 
last hope, thrown into irretrievable confusion, her spirits 


426 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


sank within her. In the utmost consternation she began 
her flight, and ere she tarried she was sixty miles away in 
the abbey of Drundrenan. 

Her very fears drove her to take the most ill-advised and 
unfortunate step of her life. She flew to England. 

For almost twenty years this beautiful Queen of Scots 
pined and fretted, but conspired and plotted, in English 
castle prisons. These years were largely taken up with in- 
trigues, more in the interest of the Papacy than in behalf 
of herself. Most of them contemplate the dethronement of 
Elizabeth and the re-establishment of Papal rulers for Eng- 
land. The Pope and bishops, as well as kings and subjects, 
were responsible for beguiling the fated queen with such vain 
hopes, and implicating her in matters which were bound at 
last to bring her to execution. Some of these plots we have 
detailed in a former part of this work. 

Mary’ s responsibility in connection with them can easily 
be seen, though it was a responsibility for which she was 
not as blamable as were those she trusted for counsel. In 
these plots of treason her own Church is seen to be her 
greatest foe. 


JESUIT PEOOFS. 

It was asserted by the Jesuits, while Mary was conflned 
a prisoner in Shefiield Castle, that the English Roman 
Catholics but awaited the help of a few thousand Spaniards 
to hurl Elizabeth from the throne. To make this allowable 
the Pope had excommunicated Elizabeth. It was planned 
that Bon John, brother of Philip King of Spain, should 
lead the Spanish contingent. Bon John had made a private 
treaty with the court of Rome. The Pope had promised 
him six thousand men and one hundred and fifty thousand 
ducats for the English expedition. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


42T 


THE EIDOLFI CONSPIRACY. 

Five years before the Don John plot, King Philip had 
been more hopeful. He had consented to the Ridolfi con- 
spiracy, by which Elizabeth was to be assassinated, and by 
the help of Spanish troops the Queen of Scots was to have 
been elevated to the throne. Philip did not have a fond 
attachment for Mary, but because of his attachment to the 
Papacy he had agreed to it. Ridolfi was one of the most 
cunning Jesuits of his day. With him the study of the 
overthrow of constitutional government became a science. 
He lived at London, under the character of a banker, and 
was the agent for Philip and the Pope. Mary was in secret 
correspondence with Philip, through the bishop of Lofi. 
Mary induced the Duke of Norfolk to have hopes of being 
her future husband, if he would aid the Ridolfi scheme. 
Ridolfi had frequent conferences with the duke. He told 
him that the Pope had a large sum, ready to bestow on the 
cause of destroying Elizabeth, liberating Mary, and seating 
her upon the throne. He further told him that Alva would 
land ten thousand men not far from London. They were to 
be brought from the Spanish contingency in the Nether- 
lands. The Bishop of Ross urged the Duke of Norfolk to 
secretly assemble a few of his followers, fall upon Elizabeth, 
and await the uprising of the Catholic classes. The con- 
spiracy was discovered. The Bishop of Ross, who it ap- 
pears was a prime mover in every plot against Elizabeth, 
was banished from the kingdom. The Spanish ambassador, 
who likewise was implicated in this plot, was commanded 
to leave. 

CONFESSIONS OF A ROMAN CATHOLIC CONSPIRATOR. 

In a short while, and suddenly, another plot was un- 
covered. A Roman Catholic agent was taken into custody,, 


428 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


and on liis person two papers were found ; one of these con- 
tained a sketch of all the English harbors, the other a list 
of the most eminent Eoman Catholics in the country. He 
acknowledged that he had been in secret correspondence 
with the Queen of Scots, and that there was a design to in- 
vade England. He said that the Duke of Guise, uncle of 
Mary, was to furnish the army and conduct the enterprise. 
The Pope of Home and the King of Spain were to supply 
the money ; while the Spanish ambassador, Mendata, was 
the instigating agent among the English Catholics. The 
culprit in custody affirmed and denied the details of this 
conspiracy in turn. That it was probably correct is shown 
by an incident connected with the capture of the Jesuit, 
Crichtum, who upon being taken into captivity, on a ship 
under sail for Scotland, was seen to hastily tear into pieces 
some papers in his possession, and throw them overboard ; 
their recovery and patient patching together, revealed to 
the government that they contained an account of a plot, 
formed by the Duke of Guise and Philip of Spain, for in- 
vading England. 

In addition, a letter was found, written by the unfortu- 
nate queen from her prison, to Sir Francis Inglefield, urging 
him to hasten the execution of what she calls, ‘Hhe great 
jplot or designmenty 

These repeated plots and conspiracies aroused the par- 
liament, and drove it to the passage of an act, which was 
sure to prove fatal to Mary. One more plot was hatched 
out in the fertile Papal brain to liberate Mary and kill 
Elizabeth. The parts were assigned to different parties. 
To Babbington fell the task of rescuing Mary. Salisbury 
had under his direction those who were to excite the Ho- 
man Catholics to arms. While the murder of the English 
queen, the most dangerous and important service, fell to 


THE ROMAH PAPACY. 


429 


the hands of Tichbourne and Savage, with their associates. 
Without scruple or compulsion, they undertook a deed, or 
rather a series of deeds, which the most depraved and profli- 
gate might contemplate with a shudder. But they were 
the trained and educated tools of the Romish Church, and 
we are not surprised that they undertook such an enterprise. 

SAD EXECUTION OF THE QUEEN. 

Upon the discovery of this last plot, in the interests of 
the Papal Queen of Scots, some of the conspirators made 
a full confession. The indignation of the nation was too 
deep, and the throne had borne too long the many intrigues 
of the Roman Catholip party. A high commissioner’ s court 
tried Mary, sentenced her, and ordered her execution. 
Neither the act, under which the trial was conducted, the 
form of proceedings, nor the verdict, were to the honor of 
the English queen, or to that of the nation. But the court 
was driven to desperate ends, and the Roman Catholic 
Church is greatly to be blamed for the fate of Mary. 

JESUIT PAPERS FOUND BY FROUDE. 

Mr. Froude, in recent researches in the archives of Spain, 
has unearthed some valuable letters, giving proof of the 
terrible Papal intentions in England during this period. 
Amongst these is a long communication from a Fr. Parsons, 
who was a Jesuit leader of some prominence in England. 
It is an epistle on the conditions in England, and is written 
for the use of the Pope and the King of Spain. The ar- 
chives of the Roman Catholic governments of Europe are 
crowded with these evidences of Papal plots and treason, 
and Romish pride, to an extent that almost prompts the 
question, if these Popes and their vassals were human \ 


430 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


A portion of the letter of Parsons is intended to show 
how the Jesuits were planning in England for the overthrow 
of the government. It gives very conclusive proof of the 
treasonable character of that order. Parsons proceeds to 
say that England ‘‘contains fifty-two counties, of which 
forty are well inclined to the Catholic. Heretics in these 
are few, and are hated by all ranks. The remaining twelve 
are infected more or less, but in even these the Catholics 
are in the majority. Divide England into three parts ; two- 
thirds at least are Catholic at l^eart, though many conceal 
their convictions in fear of the queen. 

“The enemies that we shall have to deal with are the 
more determined heretics whom we call Puritans, and cer- 
tain preachers of the queen, the Earls of Leicester and 
Huntington, and a few others. They will have an advant- 
age in the money in the treasury, the public arms and 
stores, and the army and navy, but none of them have ever 
seen a camp. They will fly at the first shot of war. They 
have not a man who can command in the field. 

“In the whole realm there are but two fortresses which 
could stand a three days’ siege. The people are enervated by 
a long peace, and except a few who have served with the 
heretics in Flanders cannot bear their arms, pf those few 
some are dead and some have deserted to the Prince of Par- 
ma, a clear proof of the real disposition to revolt. There is 
abundance of food and cattle in the country, all of which will 
be at our service and cannot be kept from us. Everywhere 
there are safe and roomy harbors, almost all undefended. 
An invading force can be landed with ease, and there will 
be no lack of local pilots. Fifteen thousand trained soldiers 
will be sufficient, aided by the Catholic English, though of 
course the larger the force, particularly if it includes cav- 
alry, the quicker the work will be done and the less the 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


431 


expense. Practically there will be nothing to overcome 
save an nn warlike and undisciplined mob. 

‘‘The expenses shall be repaid to his Holiness and the 
Catholic king, out of the property of the heretics and 
Protestant clergy. There will be am]ple in these resources 
to compensate all who give us their hand. But the work 
must be done promptly.” 

PAPAL IXPLUENCES ON THE QUEEN. 

In analyzing the character and life of Mary Stuart, the 
accomplished and beautiful, but unfortunate woman, whose 
lot it was to be held in the cruel bondage of the despotic 
Papal power, it may be said, that almost every one of her 
wrong acts of great notoriety, her arrogant ways with the 
country, and her avowed purpose to restore the political 
supremacy of the Popes in Scotland, must be placed to the 
credit of Papal influence over her, and that passionate, un- 
stable character, which itself was of the product of Papal 
training. 

That she was taken to the court and convent of France, 
when a child of six, and which thus early fostered upon 
her life the Popish nightmare, was the work of Archbishop 
Beaton, and her uncles in France. Her life for ten years 
was leavened with the Homish spirit, and to such an extent 
that she seemed to religiously hold that her career must be 
devoted to the extermination of the Protestants in Scotland. 
This fanaticism which bore such evil fruit in her life was 
drilled into her in the Jesuit training schools about Paris. 

The fated papers she was led to make over to the King 
of France, in which she signed away the kingdom of Scot- 
land, in the event of her death without issue, and which she 
did without the knowledge of the Scotch representatives at 


432 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


the French court, were the perfidious inventions of her Ro- 
mish uncles, and the Papal king. And to these Papal di- 
plomats, utterly lacking manliness of character and gener- 
ous motives, may be traced the greater part of her sorrows 
and sufferings. 

Taking the title of Queen of England, and embossing the 
English arms on her own crest, was a move designed to 
serve the ambition of the Pope and the king, more than to 
benefit Mary. In its practical effect it was a high insult 
offered to England. 

Her marriage with the weakest of the thirteen children 
of Catherine, was the plan of the Roman bishops, rather 
than the intuition of her own heart. 

VICTIM AND TOOL OF THE PAPACY. 

Her troubles and blunders, while she was on the Scotch 
throne, almost wholly came because of bishops, legates, 
nuncios and Jesuits, who hung about the court and spread 
over the country in a way most derogatory, humiliating 
and aggravating. These were urged and abetted by the 
Pope, the Governor General of the Jesuits, and her uncles 
in France. The presence of Rizzio at the Edinboro Court 
was, from a consideration of mere public expediency, the 
most unstatesmanlike, and shows Mary’s complete submis- 
sion to the positive will of the Papacy. This Rizzio was an 
Italian musician, who had insinuated himself into the queen’ s 
favor, became her secretary, and in fact, if not in name, 
her confidential minister and adviser of state. There can 
belittle doubt but Rizzio was a member of the Jesuit order, 
and it appears evident that he was in the court of the queen 
to do the will of that society. His character, manner, cun- 
ning and work, all indicate this. If this be true. Queen 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


433 


Mary was in the possession and under the subjection of the 
Papacy in mind, body and soul, and is to be looked upon 
as a victim, quite as much if not more than as a tool of the 
Papal despotism. 

Tolerance and justice might have been secured for both 
religions in Scotland, under Queen Mary, if she had been 
left alone with safe and fair advisers. The Dean of St. An- 
drews — leader of the Protestant cause — secured in Parlia- 
ment the right of the queen to the free exercise of the 
Catholic religion for herself and her domestics. In return, 
within six days, the queen issued a proclamation giving 
royal assent to the rights of worship for the Protestants. 
This may stand for what she might have^ been and done, 
had she been less exposed to the influences of the Homan 
Catholic hierarchy. 

PAPACY THE ENEMY OF WOMAN. 

Mary lacked that ballast of high motive, consistency and 
honor, memorable in the character of great women, and 
not found, as a rule, in Koman Catholic women of emi- 
nence. 

The Homan Papacy, which is head and heart, hand and 
foot for the Homan Catholic Church, had failed in elevating 
womanhood, until the Protestant centuries came in. It 
was only then that the general standard of womanhood be- 
gan to show signs of improvement. Up until that period 
the Papal standard of womanhood was that of Pagan Home. 
The teaching of the Homan Papacy does not conduce to 
high and lofty ideals of character in woman. Not only 
does the arbitrary rule of the Papal system of religion bar 
a full development of womanly motives and conduct, and 
the confessional lure to the road of deception, with a ten- 


434 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


dency to break into that reserve of modesty most charming 
in women, but the system of morals taught may well be 
feared as hurtful to constancy and to unselfish honor. 

EVILS OF CONFESSIONAL AND CELIBATE PRIESTHOOD. 

In “Den’s Theology” — a leading work of authority in 
Papal schools and councils — it is taught that a person who 
wished to deceive another, may do so by mental reservation. 
While according to Gury— a Jesuit authority, equal to 
Den— it is held, that if a person only has a good intention, 
he can make a bad action good. This is taught women in 
the confessional. It is not at all difficult to see the likely 
effect of such moral teaching upon character. Where the 
higher felicities of womanly character are found in Homan 
Catholic women, they are in spite of such teaching, and 
not because of it. Womanhood is neither safe, nor does 
it find expansion in the confessional and the celibate priest- 
kood. The enforced celibacy of the Roman priesthood is 
a standing menace to womanhood, as well as a needless 
strain on the ecclesiastical order. It has produced concu- 
binage. In other centuries this was more common. Dis- 
pensations were granted authorizing ecclesiastics to keep 
concubines. Men who regarded the protection of their 
wives and daughters, judged the concubinary priest as less 
likely to assault their own families ; and in this way it was 
tolerated for prudential reasons. In Mexico, the South 
American States and Roman Catholic lands generally, the 
custom is still found. Canon Law, as recently published 
under approval of the Pope, stipulates what price ecclesias- 
tics who desire to keep concubines shall pay the Church. 
This is logically prejudicial to a high moral tone in Papal 
womanhood, as well as in manhood. 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


435 


FAME AND INFAMY OF PAPAL WOMEN. 

The system encourages illicit intercourse, and woman 
suffers most. It is somewhat surprising how few are the 
number of women, of eminence in good works, distinguished 
for sterling character, known to fame, which are produced 
under the Papal system. It must be said that, as a rule, 
Papal women of high distinction and of whatever fame, 
have usually matched that fame with their infamy. Most 
of the famed women of Papal annals are strangely charac- 
terized by ways of injustice, cruelty and crime. Among the 
greatly famed families of the Roman Papacy, is that of 
Borgia. This was a family of Spanish origin, which reached 
its ignominy of Papal eminence at Rome in the last half of 
the fifteenth century. 

Pope Calixtus III., also Alexander VI., were members of 
this family. When Alexander VI., began his reign as 
Pontiff, he was the father of a number of children by a 
Roman woman. Two of these, Cesare and Lucrezia, were 
extraordinarily notorious for their immorality, in a court 
which was extraordinary for its licentiousness in that ex- 
traordinarily immoral fifteenth century. 

Lucrezia was a woman of great beauty, but, if the legends 
of the Papal court indicate the tone of her character, her 
moral complexion was of the hue of her father and brother. 

In the tenth century the powerful Theodora, concubine of 
Pope John X., and her daughter Marozia, ruled the court of 
the Popes for almost half a century. They were diplomatic 
and talented, and governed both the Church and state to 
their will. Rapacity, lust and cruelty chiefiy characterized 
their rule over the Popes. The wantonness in vice and 
crime, which marked the reign of Theodora, placed her be- 


436 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


yond the circle of womanhood. She hardly appears to be 
a woman, so much as some strange formation of prodigious 
evil, incarnate in the female form. The very Pope who was 
raised to the Pontifical chair by the mother, was deposed 
and killed by the daughter ; and one was as dissolute, am- 
bitious and despotic as the other, yet they were chosen, 
honored women by the Papal Church of the day. No 
council of bishops, or bench of cardinals, had aught to 
complain of in their methods or character. 

There was Matilda of Tuscany, one of the most noted of 
the Papal women of the eleventh century, who was de- 
scended from a race of Lombard nobles. She was early 
trained to serve the Papacy with great devotion and subtle 
tact. As she came into the possession of the dominion of 
Tuscany, she threw all of her powerful influence against the 
schism, which was then greatly threatening the very exist- 
ence of the Papacy. With an utter lack of sympathy, 
and giving no signs of possessing any of the common feel- 
ings of humanity, she seems to us now, to have been ani- 
mated by a spirit of cruelty, in dealing with those who were 
opposed by the Popes. 

She was the champion for several of the Pontiffs, and up- 
held them in their unbridled course of crime and oppression. 
She was regarded as the very special ally of Gregory YU., 
who crushed the independence and manhood out of Henry 
lY., of Germany, and kept him for days and nights in the 
snow, begging for the pardon of the Pontiff. 

HOW THE PAPACY SECURED TEMPORAL DOMINIONS. 

The Castle of Canossa, before which the shameful scene 
of humiliation and surrender of liberty was enacted, be- 
longed to Matilda, and was a part of her hereditary posses- 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


437 


sions. But for her, the Emperor of Germany, who had 
sought some relief from the Papal tyranny for his people, 
would not have been kept by the Pope on his knees in the 
snow, doing penance, barefooted and bareheaded. It was 
at this time Matilda gave her possessions to the See of 
Rome. In this way the Papacy came into possession of 
most of its temporal dominions, which have proven such a 
cause of war and wrong. For this, and for this principally, 
the Great Countess of Tuscany may be remembered ! 

THE BIGOTED ISABELLA. 

Isabella of Spain is one of the best known zealots of 
Rome. In moral status her reign was notorious and in- 
famous. During the war she conducted against the Moors 
and Jews, the monkish zealots hung about her camps, and 
fell into rapturous strains of glee, as they chronicled the 
massacre of those who would not assent to the political and 
religious faith of Rome. She was so wholly under the 
thumb of the evil regime of the Papacy, that she was easily 
induced by Cardinal Ximenes to persecute the Moors, be- 
cause they would not comply with the Popish ways. He 
led her to accept the horrid Papal doctrine, that to keep 
faith with infidels, by which was meant the Moors, was to 
break faith with God. He had her issue a decree, that the 
Moors ‘‘must take baptism or exile. Her efforts to es- 
tablish the Inquisition in her own Castile, and her decrees of 
proscription against the Jews, as well as her persecution of 
the Moors, tell the story of that bigotry which blunted so 
grossly her moral sense of right. She had the making of 
one of the best, as well as greatest, of queens. Rome blighted 
that prospect, and under her one of the worst Papal perse- 
cutions of her time was carried forward. The year that 


438 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Columbus discovered America, Isabella issued her remark- 
able decree of expulsion, sending three-quarters of a million 
of her most thrifty people beyond the Spanish borders, at 
the same time confiscating their property. And this was 
simply done because they were Jews. By her orders two 
hundred thousand Jews and Protestants suffered death. 
And when the King of Portugal sought her daughter in 
marriage, the artful and conscienceless Papal agent stipu- 
lated, as a condition to her assent, that the Jews should be 
expelled from Portugal. The ballad poetry and romantic 
literature of that period have given a false glamour to the 
queen of the chivalrous age in Spain. This same false esti- 
mate is still made of Isabella, abetted by some modern light 
writers, who, like Edward Everett Hale, seemed to write for 
a purpose, rather than from a motive. Rather, let this 
daughter of the Papacy be judged upon her own testimony. 
This is the witness she bears of herself with evident satis- 
faction. Near the end of her life she said : “In the love of 
Christ, I have caused great misery, and have depopulated 
towns and districts, provinces and kingdoms !” 

A FAR-FAMED PAPAL WOMAN. 

One of the far-famed women of the Papacy was Catherine 
de Medicis, who caused more wanton bloodshed than any 
woman of modern times, if not of all times. She was a mys- 
tery of history. Certain and frequent of her acts indicate 
that she was as devoid of the passions of hatred and malice, 
as she was a stranger to those of love and sympathy. She 
was as cold and crafty by nature, as she was cunning and 
diplomatic by study. She was a very natural product of 
the cold, cruel tyranny of the Papacy, which for genera- 
tions of her family had gone on developing the brutal 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


439 


traits of character, and which ripened in Catherine in odor, 
ous culmination. Lost to all principle, she was without 
even constancy to her own religion. The selfish spirit of 
the Papacy, working like the leaven through her ancestry, 
settled in her bosom into a personal selfishness of the most 
pronounced type. At times she seemed about to favor the 
Huguenots, as she thought she saw a way to advance her 
own ambitions. But such a move never gave any disposi- 
tion of just motive on her part. She was a fully ripened 
sample of the unscrupulous and selfish brutality of Papal 
womanhood, made so by mental and moral forces which 
were distinctly Romish. It is an open question, if she 
even felt any genuine emotions of love for right or for 
country. She belonged to a foreign family, which had 
never displayed any characteristics, or performed any acts 
of patriotism. One of her most constant companions asserted 
that she never displayed so much energy as in her efforts 
to deprave her own children. 

“bloody mart” of ENGLAND. 

Mary of England, another representative of Papal woman- 
hood, was so highly esteemed by the Popish leaders, that 
they held her up as a model to Mary Queen of Scots. This 
queen upon beginning her reign, promised the Protestants of 
England she would do no violence to their religion. This 
furnishes us with an additional instance of the perfidy of 
Papal rulers, when under vows of clemency and protection. 
Mary exhibited towards the Protestants an insatiable cruel- 
ty. Most unrelenting in cruelty, and divesting herself of the 
tenderness which characterized her sex, and crushing all 
feeling of humanity, she urged fresh and more agonizing 
methods of torture, and continued to send out her orders 


440 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


for the murder of her subjects, until her bigoted husband 
turned in horror from the spectacle. 

The persecution carried forward by her was the most 
bitter in the annals of England. She declared her strict 
allegiance to the Pope in temporal affairs, and then carried 
out her profession by making the Eoman bishop of Man- 
chester Lord Chancellor of the realm, and then Prime Min- 
ister. She ejected over one thousand Protestant ministers, 
after promising to do their religion no violence. 

Two thousand and eighty-eight persons were burned by 
her orders. Among them were eminent men of piety and 
learning, and the very saints of the land. Such were the 
illustrious Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer. She was known 
as the “Bloody Mary.” It was during her reign that the 
martyr’s fires of Smithfield were kept burning, to destroy 
those who did not accord with the bigoted queen, whose 
only conscience was the Pope’s will. Upon Queen Eliza- 
beth assuming the throne an address was delivered by a 
nobleman, in which the “Bloody Mary” was spoken of in 
the following plain language : 

“0 cruelty 1 cruelty! far exceeding all cruelties com- 
mitted by those ancient and famous tyrants and cruel mur- 
derers, Pharaoh, Herod, Caligula, Nero, Domitian, Maxi- 
mine, Dioclesian, Decius ; whose names for their cruel per- 
secution of the people of God, and their own tyranny prac- 
ticed on the people, have been, be now, and ever shall be 
in perpetual hatred, and their souls in continual torments 
of hell.” 

CONVENT AND CLOISTER WOMEN OF FRANCE. 

A typical class of women, developed under the favor and 
teaching of Romanism, was that of the court women of 
Prance, in the seventeenth century. They had their child- 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


441 


hood training in the Roman Catholic home, their schooling 
and drilling in convent and cloister. Their intellectual and 
social accomplishments have never been surpassed, their 
beauty of face and figure rarely, if ever, equaled ; while as 
able and eloquent conversationalists, they could be matched 
by the royal ladies of no court in Christendom. But with 
all this to their advantage, they loved the forbidden things 
which were under the ban of every law of right, justice and 
chastity. They were women of rare combinations of men- 
tal tact and talent, with social culture and grace. But we 
must not look too closely into their lives, if we do not 
want to lose faith in their sex, when wholly under the in- 
fluence of the confessional of the Romish priesthood. In 
their moral code there was no place, apparently, for the 
manners, language or dress of modesty. They seldom showed 
any conscience, and never any hesitancy, when vice ap- 
peared in an attractive and theatrical form. Two notable 
exceptions are to be made in this wonderful and wonderful- 
ly large collection of eminent women of Papal education 
and devotion, identified with the French court life of the 
seventeenth century. One was Marie Therese, gentle, vir- 
tuous and resigned. Not a very strong woman, but one 
against whom not a well authenticated breath of scandal 
blew. The other was Madame de Maintenon, who, how- 
ever, came from an old Protestant family, and in early child- 
hood was under the influence of a worthy Protestant home, 
and who truly, in some measure, redeems the low cause of 
religion and morality at court. 

As for the couple dozen others, who shone magnificently 
in wit and intellect, and equally shameful in those adven- 
tures where honor never appears, and virtue and justice 
have no place, they were an unprincipled set of wolves. 

They were enchantresses, charmers, witches of beauty, 


442 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


and very Spartans at wit. And while they were vivacious, 
infatuating, and intellectual, they were at the same time 
utterly lacking in the solidity of . character, and the 
principles and constancy of virtue, and were more devoted 
to the wild and vicious ambitions of the Papacy, than to 
graces of personal religion ; and withal they displayed more 
energy in causing misery and suffering than they did in 
allaying human woes. 

Such women as Lady Montespan, and the Marquise de 
Pompadour, the one a glutton and gourmand, the other a 
voluptuous grisette, were representations of this horde of 
flirting, ambitious, intriguing and licentious female papists, 
who made laws, country and honor alike submit to their 
supreme and carnal selflshness. 

EUGENIE BEINGS WAE TO FEANCE. 

Eugenie of France was a Papal lady of the Spanish type, 
enjoying high approval at the court of Pome. She was the 
wife of Louis Napoleon, and was ‘‘a frivolous Spanish 
bigot,’’ placed by the Emperor at the head of the French 
court. Her fldelity to the Pope accounts for the heavy 
hand she raised and let fall upon the Protestants. She was 
the upholder of the Jesuits, and was the power behind the 
throne in the policy of Napoleon towards Italy, Mexico 
and Prussia. She must be looked upon as the leading 
cause which led France into war with Prussia. And it was 
because she was an obedient Papal empress, that she was 
ready to become that moving cause. As the Franco- Prus- 
sian war opened, Eugenie tragically exclaimed, “This is my 
war!” Had she obeyed her conscience, rather than Pope 
Pius IX. and the Jesuits, she might have spent a 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


445 


happy life as the first lady of a great land, preserved her 
husband’ s throne, saved Mexico a revolution, and France a 
ruinous and humiliating war. 

ATTEMPT OF PAPAL GOVERNMENT IN MEXICO. 

And there was Carlotta, the victim of a Pope and a king, 
and all because an ardent devotee of the Papacy. Carlotta 
was the wife of Maximillian, who attempted, at the bidding 
of Pome, to establish in Mexico, some thirty years ago, a 
Papal government. She was a woman worthy of her sex 
in feeling and a high sense of right. But she was married 
to a child of the Papacy, while she herself was brought 
under the personal influence of the Pope, and the French 
Emperor, Louis Napoleon. She was led into the terrible 
conspiracy to overthrow one government in the new world, 
if not two. As the wife of Maximillian, and because of her 
relation to the Papacy, she played a guilty part in the at- 
tempt to establish a Papal government in Mexico. The 
attempt proved abortive. When utter failure opened her 
eyes to the enormity of the crime, into which she had been 
led by her Papal advisers, she saw the act of betrayal, and 
in that hour of her fall she upbraided Emperor and Pope, 
and charged them with being the cause of her unhappiness 
and humiliation. From that day dates the overthrow of 
the reason of Carlotta. The sad life of this woman is a 
powerful piece of argument against the ways of the Papacy. 

Two hundred years ago a council of six hundred bishops 
satin deliberate consideration over the question, “Shall 
women learn the alphabet?” and out of the six hundred 
bishops in attendance at the council, five hundred and ninty- 
five voted against the proposition. It is not known that 
any council has ever rescinded this action. 


444 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


PAPAL LAW DECLARES WOMEN INCONSTANT. 

In tlie Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church, pub- 
lished under the authority of the Pope, and declared to be 
a complete work on Canon Law for the English Catholic 
world, it is held that women are not competent witnesses 
in certain cases in court, for the reason that, “Woman, by 
her very nature, is inconstant and changeable it is held 
that when her testimony must be taken it shall be considered 
suspicious. 

The most eminent women, which are developed under 
the Papal system and the teaching of the Papal Canon 
Law, show a type of womanhood not many removes above 
that of Roman Pagan womanhood. The womanhood up- 
held, and most favored by the Roman Church in the six- 
teenth century, was about one with that of early Pagan 
Rome, where Salust says : “ Men and women laid aside all 
regard to chastity, and trampled on modesty and conti- 
nence.” Nothing was more ridiculed than matrimonial 
fidelity. This grew so bad that women of rank enrolled 
their names in public registers, as connected with the im- 
moral classes ; and this was without any sacrifice to their 
social standing. Under Pagan Rome woman became de- 
praved, because she had first been degraded, and such is 
precisely true in Papal Rome. The above quoted law of 
the Roman Catholic Church, in regard to the incompetency 
of women in testimony, reads like a direct reflection of the 
teaching and practice of Roman Paganism, on the same 
subject. This idea of the insincerity and inferiority of 
woman, as made in Roman Catholic Canon Law, comes 
from Pagan Rome. The Pagan teacher. Gains, says it is 
“ on account of her levity of mind and Cicero says it is 
“on account of her infirmity of judgment.” While Seneca 
declares that “woman is an inconsiderate animal.” 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


445 


In the crime charged by the Papacy against Wyclif, was 
the specification that he laid the Bible “ open to the laity 
and to woman. And in this way the gospel pearl is cast 
abroad, and trodden under foot of swine. 

PAGAN IDEA OF WOMAN IS HELD. 

This was in accord with the Pagan conception of woman. 
Here, as in many of her forms of religion, the Roman Catho- 
lic Chnrch seems but a paganized form of Christianity. 

The Roman Catholic system is not conducive to morality, 
when working upon certain temperaments, because it gives 
too much prominence to the operation of human appliances 
for sin. 

The best type of woman yet developed, is that of Pro- 
testant production. Those who have attained, under Pro- 
testant culture, the eminence of fame, for loftiness of char- 
acter, richness of motive, and greatness of work, are not 
found submissive surfs in the service of the Paj)acy. 

NAMES IMPOSSIBLE IN THE PAPAL CHUKCH. 

It will be difiicult — allowing two or three exceptions of 
possible claim — to find in all the Papal Church any names 
which shine as the brightness of the stars, for clearness of 
light and goodness of service, and distill such fragrance of 
life, pure, beautiful and sweet, as do multitudes of names, 
which give glory to our Protestant system, as Mary Somer- 
ville, Elizabeth Frye, Jenny Lind, Florence Nightingale, 
Lucretia Mott, Harriet Beecher Stowe;— the list might be 
run into weary length — are unmatched, in all Papal annals, 
for lofty aims, great conceptions of duty unsavored with 
selfishness ; motives without a flaw ; sacrifice and devotion, 
reaching a point beyond which their principles have not 


446 


THE BOMAN PAPACY, 


yet risen on earth except in the Nazarene; while their accom- 
plishments of great works on a scale most wonderful. 

Such a name as Mary Bosaiiquet is quite an impossibil- 
ity in the Papal Church. This extraordinary woman lived 
in the middle of the eighteenth century in England, and 
was one of the most remarkable women of history. Belong- 
ing to one of the most wealthy and aristocratic families, 
she early developed a piety and learning which, with her 
queenly manners and ways, made her a figure soon known 
over the land. Her life of consecration, philanthropy, 
greatness of accomplishments, and beautiful withal, has 
few parallels. Such a saint is not found in the Roman cal- 
endar. The Papal garden grows no such plants. The chief 
saint of the monkish orders is St. Anthony. An English 
wit renders in line that monk’s evil deeds with, and wrong 
conception of, woman. A single verse indicates his views ; 

“ There are many devils which walk this world, 

Devils great and devils small, 

Devils short and devils tall. 

Bold devils which go with their tails unfurled ; 

Sly devils which carry them quite uncurled, 

But a laughing woman with two bright eyes, 

Is the worstest devil of them all.” 


THE PURITAN PATRIOT, 


i 
} 
I 

‘ The breaking waves dashed high ! 

On a stern and rock-bound coast ; I 

And the woods, against a stormy sky, | 

Their giant branches tossed. j 

‘ And the heavy night hung dark. 

The hills and waters o’er, 

When a band of exiles moved their bark 
On the wild New England shore. 

‘ Amidst the storm they sang, 

’Till the stars heard, and the sea ; 

And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang 
To the anthem of the free. 

‘ Yes, call that holy ground 

Which first their brave feet trod ! 

They have left unstained what there they found — 
Freedom to worship God.” 


Are the Popes responsible 

FOR BLOODSHED AND WAR? 

Whenever kings have been deposed by the Roman 
Pontiffs, the result has been bloody and civil wars ; where- 
fore the Pope has only produced causes of war, and giv- 
en a pretext and color to ambition and rebellion, and in- 
volved the whole world, in the flames of war ; and, in a 
word, these depositions of the kings by the authority of 
the Pope have never been of the least use, but have 
caused immense odium and injury. 


Bossuet. 


APPENDIX A. 


Eloquent passages from the declarations of great think- 
ers and brave, showing the common view in which the 
Papacy is held : 

MRS. BROWIN^ING. 

(On demanding liberty for enlightened Italians.) 

Rise up, teacher ! here’s 
A crowd to make a nation ! best begin 
By making each a man, till all be peers 
Of earth’s true patriots and pure martyrs in 
Knowing and daring. Best unbar the doors 
Which Peter’ s heirs kept locked so overdose 
They only let the mice across the floors. 

While every churchman dangles, as he goes, 

The great key at his girdle, and abhors 
In Christ’s name meekly. Open wide the house. 
Concede the entrance with Christ’s liberal mind, 
And set the tables with his wine and bread. 
What ! “ Commune, in both kinds ?” In every 
kind — 

Wine, wafer, love, hope, truth, unlimited, 
Nothing kept back. For, when a man is blind 
To starlight, will he see the rose is red ? 

A bondsman shivering at a Jesuit’s foot — 

“ VcB ! mea culpa — is not like to stand 

( 449 ) 


450 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


A freedman at a despot’s, and dispute 
His titles by tlie balance in liis hand, 

Weighing them suojureJ*^ Tend the root, 

If careful of the branches, and expand 
The inner souls of men before you strive 
For civic heroes. 

Whatever hand shall grasp this oriflamme, 
Whatever man (last peasant or first pope seeking 
to free his country) shall appear, ... 

I hold that he surpasses all the rest 
Of Komans, heroes, patriots ; and that when 
He sat down on the throne, he dispossest 
The first graves of some glory. See again, 

This country-saving is a glorious thing ! 

And if a common man achieved it? Well. 

Say, a rich man did ? Excellent. A king ? 
That grows sublime ! A priest ? Improbable. 

A pope ? Ah, there we stop. 

ROBERT BROWNING. 

(On the Confessional.) 

It is a lie — their Priests, their Pope, 

Their Saints, their ... all they fear or hope. 
Are lies, and lies — there ! through my door 
And ceiling, there ! and walls and floor, 

There, lies, they lie,— shall still be hurled 
Till spite of them I reach the world ! 

You think priests just and holy men ! 

Before they put me in this den 


APPENDIX A. 


451 


I was a human creature too, 

With flesh and blood like one of you, 

A girl that laughed in beauty’s pride 
Like lilies in your world outside. 

SHAKESPEARE. 

(On absolution.) 

Though you and all the kings of Christendom, 

Are led so grossly by this meddling priest, 
Dreading the curse that money may buy out. 

And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust, 
Purchase corrupted pardon of a man 
Who, in that sale, sells pardon from himself — 
Though you and all the rest so grossly led. 

This juggling witchcraft with reverence cherish ; 

Yet I alone, alone do me oppose 

Against the Pope ; and count his friends my foes. 

King John, hi. i. 

(On priestly immorality.) 

This Cardinal is more haughty than the devil. 

I Henky YI. i. 3. 

Under my feet Pll stamp the Cardinal’s hat. 

In spite of Pope, or dignitaries of Church. 

I Henry YI. hi. 3. 

Presumptuous priest ! this place commands my 
patience. 

Or thou should’ st find thou hast dishonored me. 
Think not, although in writing I preferred 
The manner of thy vile, outrageous crimes. 

That therefore I have forged, or am not able, 


452 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Yerbatim, to rehearse the method of my pen : 

'No, prelate ! such is thy audacious wickedness. 
Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks, 

As very infants prattle of thy pride. 

Thou art a most pernicious usurer, 

Froward by name, enemy to peace ; 

Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems 
A man of thy profession and degree ; 

And for thy treachery, what’s more manifest? 

I Henry YI. iii. i. 

(On Indulgence.) 

Stand back, thou manifest conspirator : 

Thou, that contrived' st to murder our dead lord t 
Thou, that giv’st whores indulgence to sin ! 

I’ll canvass thee in thy broad Cardinal’s hat. 

If thou proceed’ st in this thine insolence. 

I Henry YI. 3. 

BISMARCK. 

(On Papal Interference.) 

The Papacy has been a political power, which with the 
greatest audacity, and with the most momentous conse- 
quences has interposed with the affairs of this world. This- 
Pope, this foreigner, this Italian, is more powerful in this 
country (Germany, 1875,) than any other one person, not 
excepting the king. 

GLADSTONE. 

(On ecclesiastical supremacy, 1874.) 

Rome requires a convert who joins her to forfeit his moral 
and mental freedom, and to place his loyalty and civil duty 


APPENDIX A. 


453 


at the mercy of another. The Romish Church alone arro- 
gates to herself the right to sp'eak to the State, not as a 
subject, but as its superior, setting up a rival law against 
the State in the State’s own domain, and then claimiag for 
it, with a higher sanction, the title to similar coercive 
means of enforcement. 

JOHN KNOX. 

(To the French ambassador, Du Croc, upon hearing the news of 
St. Bartholomew’s day.) 

Go, tell your king that sentence has gone against him ; 
that God’s vengeance shall never depart from him nor his 
house ; that his name shall remain an execration to the 
posterities to come, and of his loins none shall enjoy that 
kingdom unless he repent. 

MACAULAY. 

(On the Roman Church a barrier to general progress.) 

During the last three centuries, the chief object of the 
Roman Catholic Church has been to stunt the growth of 
the human mind. Throughout Christendom, whatever ad- 
vance has been made in knowledge, in freedom, in wealth 
and in the arts of life, has been made in spite of her, and 
has everywhere been in inverse proportion to her power. 

VICTOR HUGO. 

(In reply to the attempt of the priestly party in France to con- 
trol the education of the French youth.) 

Ah, we know you! We know the clerical party; it is 
an old party. This it is which has found for the truth 
those two marvelous supporters, ignorance and error. This 
it is which forbids to science and genius the going beyond 


454 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


the Missal, and which wishes to cloister thought in dogmas. 
Every step which the intelligence of Europe has taken has 
been in spite of it. Its history is written in the history of 
human progress, but it is written on the back of the leaf. 
It is opposed to it all. This it is which caused Prinelli to 
be scourged for having said that the stars would not fall. 
This it is which put Campanella seven times to torture for 
saying that the number of worlds was infinite, and for hav- 
ing caught a glimpse at the secret of creation. This it 
is which persecuted Harvey for having proved the cir- 
culation of the blood. In the name of Jesus it shut up 
Galileo. In the name of St. Paul it imprisoned Christo- 
pher Columbus. To discover a law of the heavens was an 
impiety ; to find a world was a heresy. This it is which 
anathematized Pascal in the name of religion, Montaigne 
in the name of morality, Moliere in the name of both mor- 
ality and religion. For a long time the human conscience 
has revolted against you and now demands of you “What 
is it that you wish of me For a long time already you 
have tried to put a gag upon the human intellect ; you 
wish to be the masters of education, and there is not a poet, 
not an author, not a thinker, not a philosopher that you 
accept. All that has been written, found, dreamed, deduced, 
inspired, imagined, invented by genius, the treasure of civ- 
ilization, the venerable inheritance of generations, the com- 
mon patrimony of knowledge, you reject. There is a book 
— a book which is from one end to the other an emanation 
from above ; a book which contains all human wisdom il- 
luminated by all divine wisdom — a book which the venera- 
tion of the people call the Book — the Bible ! Well, your 
censure has reached even that — unheard of thing ! Popes 
have proscribed the Bible. How astonishing to wise spirits ; 
how overpowering to simple hearts to see the finger of 


APPENDIX A. 


455 


Rome placed upon the Book of God ! Now you claim the 
liberty of teaching. Stop ; let us see your pupils. Let us 
see those you have produced. What have you done for 
Italy ? For Spain ? The one in ashes, the other in ruins. 

PARLIAMENT OF PARIS. 

(Its acts of accusation and judgment against the Jesuits.) 

August 6th, 1761, the parliament condemned the general 
of the Jesuits, and, in his person, the whole society which 
he governed ; also a quantity of publications by the Jesuits, 
dating from the year 1590 downward. The accusation 
brought against these books was, that they taught ‘‘abom- 
inable and murderous doctrine, of justifying sedition, rebel- 
lion and regicide. They were forbidden to give instruction, 
private or public, in theology, philosophy or humanity, 
and ordered their schools and colleges to be closed. 

The final act was taken a year later, August, 1761, when 
the parliament sentenced that the ‘ ‘ Society was inadmissi- 
ble, by its nature, in any civilized state, inasmuch as it was 
contrary to the law of nature. Subversive of authority, 
spiritual and temporal, and introduced, under the veil of 
religion ; a political body, of which the essence consists in 
perpetual attempts to attain, first, absolute independence, 
and in the end, supreme authority.’’ 

LORD PALMERSTON. 

(Many years Prime Minister of England.) 

All history tells us that wherever the Romish priesthood 
has gained a predominance, there the utmost amount of 
intolerance is invariably the practice. In countries where 
they are in the minority they instantly demand, not only 


456 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


toleration, but equality ; but in countries where they pre- 
dominate they allow neither toleration nor equality. 

SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE. 

The priests would have engulfed all the real estate of 
England. It took centuries to protect and perfect the na- 
tions against their rapacity and schemes to avoid the 
statutes. 


THOMAS CARLYLE. 

(On Jesuitism.) 

For some two centuries the genius of mankind has been 
dominated by the gospel of Ignatius Loyola, the poison- 
fountain from which these rivers of bitterness that now sub- 
merge the world have flowed. Long now have the Eng- 
lish people understood that Jesuits proper, are servants 
to the Prince of Darkness. 

JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE. 

(On universal sovereignty.) 

More than ever the assumptions of the Holy See are per- 
ceived to rest on error or on fraud. The doctrines of the 
Catholic Church have gained only increased improbability 
from the advance of knowledge. Her history in the light 
of critical science is a tissue of legend woven by the de- 
vout imagination. Yet the Roman Church has once more 
shot up into visible and practical consequence. Her hierar- 
chy, in England and America, have already compelled the 
State to consult their opinions and respect their pleasure ; 
while each step that is gained is used as a vantage-ground 


APPENDIX A. 


457 


from which to present fresh demands. Hildebrand, in the 
plenitude of his power, was not more arrogant in his claim 
of universal sovereignty than the present wearer of the tiara. 

JOSEPH PARKER, OF LONDON. 

What I do know is, that the Papist is under bond to obey 
the Pope. This is the very essence of Popery. Either the 
Pope means what he says, or he does not mean it. The late 
Pope of Rome is represented by Cardinal Manning as say- 
ing: “ I acknowledge no civil superior, and I claim more- 
than this : I claim to be the supreme judge on earth, and 
director of the consciences of men — of the peasant that tills 
the field, and the prince that sits on the throne ; of the 
household that lives in the shade of privacy, and the legis- 
lature that makes laws for kingdoms. I am the last su- 
preme judge on earth of what is right and wrong.” 

I am not beguiled by rhetoric when I characterize Papal 
history as a record of superstition, tyranny and bloodshed. 
And Popery never alters. If Popery has ever extended 
the liberties of the people, I call for the evidence. If Popery 
has ever led the nations in healthy thought and democratic 
progress, I call for the evidence. The history of Papacy 
has been as a roll written within and without with moan- 
ing, lamentation and woe. 

LA FAYETTE. 

If the liberties of the American people are ever destroyed, 
they will fall by the hands of the Roman clergy. 

BANCROFT. 

(On Roman Catholics in the Revolution.) 

The great mass of the members of the' Roman Church, 
who were then about one in seventy -five of the whole pop- 


458 


THE ROMAN PAPAGT. 


ulation, followed the influence of the Jesuits, in whose 
hands the direction of them still remained, and who 
cherished distrust of the influences of the American Revo- 
lution . In Philadelphia, Howe had been able to form a regi- 
ment of the Roman Catholics. With still better success 
Clinton courted the Irish, and allured them to a combina- 
tion directly adverse to their own interests, and raised for 
Lord Rowdon a large regiment, in which officers and men 
were exclusively Irish. Among them were nearly five hun- 
dred deserters from the American army. 

WASHINGTOISr. 

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, the jeal- 
ousy of a free people ought ever to be constantly awake, 
since history and experience jjrove that foreign influence is 
one of the most baneful foes of republican government. 

LYMAN BEECHER. 

(On the great conflict between Americanism and foreignism.) 

Must Catholics have all the liberties — their own and ours 
too ? I protest against that unlimited abuse which it is 
thought quite proper to round off declamatory periods 
against the religion of those who fought the battles of the 
Reformation and the battles of the Revolution ; and that 
sensitiveness and liberality which would shield from ani- 
madversion and spread the mantle of charity over a relig- 
ion which never prospered, but in alliance with despotic 
governments, has always been, and still is, the inflexible 
enemy of liberty, of conscience and free inquiry, and at 
this moment is the mainstay of the battle against republi- 
can institutions. A despotic government and despotic 


APPENDIX A. 


45D 


religion may not be able to endure free inquiry, but a 
republic and religious liberty cannot exist without it.. 

HON. W. J. STILLMAN. 

(United States Consul at Rome, on Papal persecution in Rome 
in 1864 .) 

I can conceive of no system of torture worse than thi& 
terrible esi)ionage under which every patriot lay, fearful 
of his own breath, one scarcely daring to speak to an- 
other, except in tropes and innuendoes. They suffered 
the penalty of crime for wishing merely to be free. Had 
it not been for the system of counter-espionage kept up by 
the Roman committee on the government, no liberal could 
have lived in Rome. 

RUFUS CHOATE. 

Expel the Bible from our schools ! Never, so long as a 
piece of Plymouth Rock remains big enough to make a 
gun-flint out of. 

JOSEPH COOK. 

My impression is, that Massachusetts law ought to be 
made in Massachusetts, and not on the Tiber. I want peace 
with all members of society ; but I want first purity. It 
cannot be, it never will be, that the American people will 
submit to have Canon Law enforced over American law. 

PROF. MORSE. 

(Inventor of the telegraph and Minister to Rome, writing forty 
years ago.) 

And now what prevents the interference of Catholics as 
a sect in the political elections of the country \ They are 
organized under their priests. Do not Catholics of the 


460 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


present day use the bonds of religious union to effect political 
objects in other countries ? Did not the Pope interfere in 
Poland in the late revolution, and through the priests com- 
mand submission to the tyranny of the Czar? At the 
moment I am writting, are not monks and priests leaders in 
the fields of battle in Spain, in Portugal ? Is not the Pope 
encouraging the troops of Don Miguel, and exciting priests 
and people to arms in a civil contest ? Has Popery aban- 
doned its ever busy meddling in the politics of the countries 
where it obtains foothold ? 

HOX. HEIN-RY W. BLAIR. 

(On the floor of the Senate, Feb. 15th, 1888.) 

Upon this very fioor soon after we had passed this bill, 
full two years ago, and while it was in the hands of a 
packed committee in the House of Representatives, where 
it was finally strangled — on this very floor a Senator showed 
me a letter which I read with my own eyes, the original 
letter of a Jesuit priest, in which he begged a Member of 
Congress to oppose this bill, and to kill it, saying, that they 
had organized all over the country for its destruction ; that 
they succeeded in the committee of the House, and they 
would destroy the bill inevitably; and if they had only 
known it early enough, they could have prevented its pass- 
ing through the Senate. They have begun in season this 
time. 

LEOISTARD BACON, D. D. 

I will tell you where you will find the true exponent of 
Romanism. Wherever you can get a mob of Irishmen to 
break up a Sunday school, and assail the children in the 
streets, there is the infallible, the immutable doctrine of 
the Church of Rome, the application of physical force as 
pertaining to religion. 


APPENDIX A. 


461 


ARTHUR CLEVELAND COXE. 

(Episcopal Bishop of Western New York.) 

The Jesuits still engage in commercial enterprises on a 
large scale. They have recourse to a third party, whom 
they empower to act for them, giving to it their money and 
immense influence. At the present moment the Jesuits are 
at the head of a number of banking houses in the Old 
World and in the New. Singly, or as partners, they own a 
whole fleet of clippers, which ply on the Brazilian line, of 
which the port of connection is Bordeaux. At Havre they 
have again a still more considerable interest in the super- 
vision of ship-yards and the transportation of emigrants. 
Lastly, they own the best iron works in France, at Bessezes,, 
and Alais. In California they have gold mines, and one en- 
tire street in San Francisco has become their property. 
They can carry on their most extensive operations in loau 
transactions at the rate of 30, 40, 50, 100, and 200 per cent. 
The Pope of Rome is governed absolutely by the Jesuits, 
or the court of Rome. This court is generally ignorant, 
narrow, and circumscribed, and knows less of this country 
than we know of the moon. When this court attempts to 
interfere with an American institution we have a right to 
feel insulted. We must remind the court of Rome that un- 
til the rightful power of King Humbert was established over 
Italy, the states, and the Church basking in the sunlight of 
the Pontifical presence, were the most thoroughly illiterate 
of all the states of Europe that were not largely barbarian. 
That that court should declare itself the arbiter in all ques- 
tions affecting the morals of the nation, and should dictate 
to this American people, with all its light and intelligence, 
certainly is an indignity which every American should repeL 



APPENDIX B. 


The following list of the leading councils, of the Roman 
Catholic Church, is incorporated in this work, with a feel- 
ing that it will prove very valuable to thousands of schol- 
ars who need such a reference. The authority is that 
of Bellarmine and Pichler, leading Jesuit doctors of law. 
The form given is precisely that of Pichler’ s Polemica, edi- 
tion of Vienna, 1749. The only other English appearance 
we know of is by Breckenridge. The only deviation we 
make from him and from the original in the Polemica is to 
change the word “Pope” into that of bishop, when refer- 
ence is made to the early councils held prior to the use of 
the term “Pope ” or the fact of the Papacy. In the use of 
this table it should be remembered that, according to Canon 
Law, any act of a general council, not reprobated by the 
Pope at the time, is binding upon the world for all time. 
According to our authorities we divide the councils into 
three classes. 

I. GENERAL COUNCILS WHICH WERE LAWFUL. 

1. Nice^ which was held at the city of Nice. The council 
of Sardicense, held some years later, was a contin- 
uance of the same council. 

The time of this council was the year 327 ; Sylvester 
was bishop at Rome ; Constantine the Great was em- 
peror. There were three hundred and eighteen mem- 
bers in the council. The representatives of the Ro- 

(463) 


464 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


man bishop were Hosius, Vitus and Yincentius* 
Only the first was a bishop. 

This council composed the Nicene Creed. 

2. Constantinople; held partly at Constantinople, and 

partly at Kome. 

The time was about 381 ; Damasus was bishop at 
Eome, and the elder Theodosius was emperor. There 
were present 150 Catholics and 36 Macedonians. The 
Roman bishop was not present personally or by rep- 
resentative. The council confirmed the Nicene Creed. 

3. Ephesinum ; held at Ephesus, the metropolis of Asia 

Minor. 

The time was about 430; Celestine was bishop at 
Eome, and Theodosius the younger and Yalentinien 
III. were emperors. 

There were 200 members ; Cyril, archbishop of Alex- 
andria, presided. This council condemned the Nes- 
torian heresy ; declared the Virgin to be mother of 
Christ only, and not the mother of God. Against 
this action of the council the words, “ Mother of God, 
pray for us,” were added to the angelic salutation. 

4. Chalcedon; convened at Chalcedon, in Bythinia. 

The time was about 451 ; Leo the Great was bishop 
at Eome, and Marcian emperor. 

There were 630 members ; the representatives of the 
Eoman bishop presided. This council condemned 
heresies pertaining to the doctrines of Christ. 

5. Constantinople II. ; held about the year 553 ; Yirgilius 

was Pope, and Justinian emperor. 

According to some there were 165 present, while 
others give the number at 255. The Pope was neither 
present nor represented by any one. 

This council dealt with the heresy of Origin. 


APPENDIX B, 


465^ 

6. Constantinople III, / to which the synod of Trullana,, 

called Quini-Sexta, was appended. 

The time was 680 ; Agatho was Pope, and Constam 
tine TV, emperor. 

Present 289 fathers; the legates of the Pope presided. 
This council dealt with the heresy of the Monothelites. 

7. Nice II, ; about 781 ; Adrian was Pope, and Constantine 

reigning in the empire, with his mother. 

Present 350 fathers ; the legates of the Pope presided. 
Dealt with heresy, and condemned certain emperors. 
for having despoiled some images of Christ and the 
saints. 

8. Constantinople lY, ; about 869 ; Adrian II. Pope, and 

Basil emperor. 

Present, 102 fathers ; the Pontifical legates presided. 
The destroyers of images were again dealt with. 

9. Later an I. ; so called from the Lateran palace at Eome. 

Held about the year 1122 ; Calixtus II. was Pope, and 
Henry Y. emperor. 

More than 300 fathers were present ; the Pope pre- 
sided in person. 

It was called to make peace between the Church and 
the empire, and to promote the war against the Sara- 
cens for the recovery of the Holy Land. 

10. Lateran II. ; held about 1139 ; Innocent II. Pope, and 

Lothair II. or Conrad king of the Romans. 

About 1000 fathers ; the Pope presiding in person. 
This council condemned the anti-Popes Anoeletus and 
Victor. Passed on the rights of the clergy and under- 
took to reform their morals. 

11. Lateran 111, / about 1179 ; Alexander III. Pope ; Fred- 

eric I. emperor. 

About 300 fathers ! th^ Pope presiding. 


466 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


This council condemned the Waldenses as heretics, 
and passed measures for the reformation of morals. 

12. Lateran lY. ; 1245 ; Innocent TV. Pope, and Frederick 

II. emperor. 

Present, 400 bishops, and 800 inferior prelates ; the 
Pope presiding. 

This council condemned anew the Albigenses in the 
Piedmont ; passed act for the recovery of the Holy 
Land, and for the peace of the nations by determin- 
ing that if secular governments refused to extermi- 
nate heretics they should be excommunicated and 
exterminated, and their countries given to any Cath- 
lics who were able to conquer them. 

13. Lugdunense I. (Lyons) ; so called because held at Lyons, 

France. 

Held in 1245 ; Innocent IV. Pope, and Frederick II. 
emperor. 

One hundred and forty fathers present, and the Pope 
presiding. 

This council excommunicated and deposed emperor 
Frederick II. (called Barbarossa) as a rebel against 
the Pope. Also directed an expedition into Palestine. 

14. Lugdunense II. (Lyons) ; 1274 ; Gregory Pope, and 

Eudolph emperor. 

Almost 1000 present, of which over 500 were bishops ; 
the Pope presided. 

Affected a union with the Greeks (whose emperor 
was present) for the recovery of the Holy Land. 

15. Yienense (Vienne) ; Held in Vienne, France. 

In year 1311 ; Clement V. Pope, and Henry VII. 
emperor. This Pope framed the laws, which in 
Canon Law are called Clementine, 

Three hundred bishops present; Pope presiding. 


APPENDIX B. 


467 


The order of the Templars, so called because protect- 
ing the Temple at Jerusalem, was first suppressed. 
A new expedition arranged for the Holy Land 

16. Florence; Florence, Italy, 1438, continued from Ferrara; 

Eugene lY. Pope, Albert emperor. 

Subscribed to by 141 fathers, many having departed 
beforehand. The Pope presided. 

Attempted a union with Greeks and Armenians. No 
purpose further than this known. 

17. Later an V, Began in 1542 ; Julius II. Pope ; completed 

in 1517. Leo X. Pope, and Maximilian emperor. 
Present, 114 fathers ; Pope presiding. 

Called to heal the schism caused by the alleged Schis- 
matic council of Pisa in 1409. Also ordered an ex- 
pedition against the Turks, which never came to head 
because of the German Reformation. 

18. TVent (Tridentinum) ; Commenced at Trent, Germany, 

continued at Bononia, and concluded at Trent. 

Began in 1545 under Pope Paul III., continued 
through Pontificates of Julius III., Marcelles II., 
Paul lY., and finished under Pius YI. in 1563 ; Charles 
Y. and Ferdinand I. were emperors. 

The legates of the Pope presided ; 255 fathers sub- 
scribed to it, many having left. 

The Lutherans and other heretics were condemned ; 
articles of faith and authority of the Popes re-affirmed, 
and morals were reformed, especially amongst the 
clergy, who were exceedingly corrupt. 

According to Jesuit authority these are the eighteen 
general councils which have decided irrevocably and 
infallibly, and whose actions are, to the end of time, 
obligatory on all the world. 

Yet it is known that, of these eighteen councils twelve 


4G8 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


eitlier spoke lies or decreed sins. The third es- 
tablished idolatry ; the seventh and eighth wickedly 
condemned those who would not worship images ; 
the ninthy twelfth.^ thirteenth^ fourteenth., fifteenth 
and seventeenth decreed unjust wars; the eleventh 
and twelfth cursed all Christians not agreeing with 
Eome ; the thirteenth raised the ecclesiastic power 
of the Roman Church over all human governments 
for all time. 

II. SEVERAL COUNCILS WHICH WERE ILLEGAL. 

The high Jesuit authorities, Pichler and Bellarmine, the 
latter the best single authority in the Roman Church, agree 
to fourteen additional councils, one-half of which were 
schismatic or reprobate, while the other half were in part 
legal and in part illegal. We give first a list of the illegal 
general councils. 

1. Antioch; held in 345; Julius bishop of Rome ; Constan- 

tine Arianus emperor ; attended by 90 persons. 

In opposition to first Mcene council. 

2. Midiolanense (Milan) ; held in 354 ; Liberius bishop of 

Rome ; Arianus emperor ; 300 present ; indirectly 
condemned the Church at Rome. 

3. Ariminense (Rimmi) \ in 373; Damasus bishop of Rome ^ 

Arianus emperor ; 600 present ; dominated by the 
Arians. 

4. Ephesus II, ; 443 ; Leo bishop ; Theodosius the younger 

emperor ; violence reigned in the council, which drove 
away the representative of the bishop of Rome, and 
put to death the bishop of Constantinople, Flavianus ; 
128 present. 

5. Constantinople; 730; Gregory II. Pope, and Leo em- 

peror ; the greater part of the council were laymen ^ 


APPENDIX B. 


469 


and it ordered the suppression of images of Christ and 
the saints. 

6. Constantinople; 754 ; Stephen II. or III. Pope ; Constan- 

tine Copronymus emperor ; 338 fathers present ; total- 
ly abolished all images of Christ and the saints. 

7. Pisa; about 1510; Julius II. Pope, and Maximillianl. 

emperor ; called by the emperor and king of France, 
with certain cardinals, to proceed against Pope 
Julius II. 

It will be readily seen why these councils are considered 
illegal. They dealt with a just hand in handling the evils, 
idolatries and frauds of the Roman bishopric, and later 
with the established Papacy. 

III. GENERAL COUNCILS PARTLY LEGAL AND PARTLY IL- 
LEGAL. 

1. Sardicense ; appendix to the first council of Nice ; Julius 

bishop at Rome, Arianus emperor ; 300 present from 
the west and 73 from the east ; growing friction be- 
tween the western and eastern churches. 

2. Sirmiense (Sirmium) ; held in 356 ; Liberius bishop, and 

Constantine Arianus emperor ; the two parties drew 
up each a creed. Little action. 

3. Quini (Sextum) ; held at Constantinople in Trullim 

palace, where its acts are called Trullian ; held about 
602 ; Sergius Pope, and Justinian II. emperor ; 211 
present ; reprobated by the Pope. 

4. FranJcford; 794; no bishops from the east ; 300 present; 

Adrian I. Pope ; Charlemagne king of France ; repro- 
bated in part by the Pope. 

5. Constance; 1414-1418; John XXIII. and Martin V. Popes; 

Sigismund emperor of Germany ; over 1000 present, 
besides ordinary priests; suppressed a schism, de- 


470 


THE ROMAN PAP ACT. 


posed three anti-Popes, condemned and burned Huss 
and Jerome. 

6. Basle (Basil) ; began at Basil in 1431, Eugenius lY. Pope, 

and finished at Lausanne, on lake Geneva, in 1449, 
under Pope Nicholas V., elected an anti-Pope. 

7 . Pisa ; Pisa, Italy ; 1409 ; Gregory XII. and Benedict 

XIII. professing to be Popes at the same time ; pres- 
ent 180 bishops and 900 minor prelates. Deposed 
both the pretenders, and elected Alexander Y., and 
increased the schism. 


APPENDIX O. 

A EOSTEK OP THE POPES. 

The most reliable Roman Catholic writers quite agree 
that it is wholly impossible to establish a correct list of the 
Popes, including the early bishops of Rome. The table 
which we append is that found in the OeraracMa CattoUca 
(the Roman Almanac). It also includes original names and 
titles and notes on the anti-popes, and the great western 
schism. The value of the table rests in this : That it pre- 
sents the claims of the Roman Church. 

(St. stands for Saint, B. for Blessed, M. for Martyr.) 



NAME. 

PLACE OF BIRTH. 

TERM. 

1 

St. Peter, M 


42— 

67 

2 

St. Linus, M 


67— 

78 

3 

St. Cletus, M 


78— 

90 

4 

St. Clement L, M 


90— 

100 

5 

St. Anacletus, M 


100 — 

112 

6 

St. Evaristus, M 


112— 

121 

V 

St. Alexander L, M 


121— 

132 

8 

St. Sixtus L, M 


132— 

142 

9 

St. Telesphorus, M 


142— 

154 

10 

St. Hyginus, M 


154— 

158 

11 

St. Pius L, M 


158— 

167 

12 

St. Anicetus, M 


167— 

175 

13 

St. Soterus, M 


175— 

182 


( 471 ) 


472 


TEE ROMAN PAPACY. 


14 

St. Eleutherius, M 

, . Epirus 

182— 

193 

15 

St. Victor I., M 

, . Africa 

193— 

203 

16 

St. Zephyrinus, M 

. .Rome 

203— 

220 

17 

St. Calixtus I., M 

. .Rome 

221— 

227 

18 

St. Urban I., M 

. . Rome 

227— 

233 

19 

St. Pontianus, M 

, , Rome 

233— 

238 

20 

St. Anterus, M 

, . Greece 

238— 

239 

21 

St. Fabian, M 

. Rome 

240— 

253 

22 

St. Cornelius, M 

(Novatian, first antipope.) 

. Rome 

254— 

255 

23 

St. Lucius I., M 

. Rome 

255— 

257 

24 

St. Stephen I.,M 

, . Rome 


260 

25 

St. Sixtus IL, M 

. Athens 


261 

26 

St. Dionysius, M 

• Italy 

261— 

272 

27 

St. Felix L, M 

. Rome 


275 

28 

St. Eutychianus 

. Tuscany 


283 

29 

St. Caius, M 

.Dalmatia 


296 

50 

St. Marcellinus, M 

. Rome 


304 

31 

St. Marcellus I., M 

, . Rome 


309 

32 

St. Eusebius 

. Calabria 

309— 

311 

33 

St. Melchiades 

. Africa 


314 

54 

St. Sylvester 

, Rome 


337 

35 

St. Marcus 

. Rome 

337— 

340 

36 

St. Julius, T 

. Rome 


352 

37 

St. Liberius 

. Rome 


363 

38 

St. Felix, II 

. Rome 


365 

39 

St. Damassus 

(Ursicinus, antipope.) 

..Spain 


384 

40 

St. Siricius 

. Rome 


398 

41 

St. Anastasius 

. Rome 


402 

42 

St. Innocent, I 

. Albano 


417 

43 

St. Zosimus 

, Greece 


418 

44 

St. Boniface, I 

. Rome 


423 

45 

St. Celestine, I 

.Campania 


432 

46 

St. Sixtus, III 

.Rome 


440 


47 

48 

49 

50 

51 

52 

53 

54 

55 

56 

57 

58 

59 

60 

61 

62 

63 

64 

65 

66 

67 

68 

69 

70 

71 

72 

73 

74 

75 

76 

77 

78 

79 

80 

81 


APPENDIX G. 

473 

St. Leo I, the Great 

. .Tuscany 


St. Hilary 

. . Cagliari 


St. Simplicius 

..Tivoli. 


St. Felix III 

. . Rome 


St. Gelasius I 

. . Africa 


St. Anastasius II 

. , Rome 


St. Symmachus '. . . . 

. .Rome 


St. Hormisdas 

. . Frosinone 


St. John I., M 

. . Tuscany 


St. Felix IV 

. .Benevent 


Boniface II 

. .Rome 


John II 

. . Rome 

532— 535 

St. Agapetus I 

, . Rome 


St. Sylverius 

. . Frosinone 

536— 538 

St. Vigilius 

. . Rome 


Pelagius I 

. . Rome 


John III 

. . Rome 


Benedict I 

. . Rome 


Pelagius II 

. . Rome 

578— 590 

St. Gregory I., the Great. . 

. . Rome 


Sabinianus 

. .Volterra 

604— 606 

Boniface III 

. Rome 


Boniface IV 

. .The Marches 

608— 615 

St. Adeodatus I 

. . Rome 


Boniface V 

. .Naples 

619— 625 

Honorius I 

. . Campania 

625— 638 

Severinus 

- . Rome 


John IV 

. .Dalmatia 

640— 642 

Theodorus I 

. .Greece 


St. Martin I., M 

..Todi 


St. Eugenius I 

. . Rome 

655— 656 

St. Vitalianus * . . . 

. .Segin 

657— 672 

Adeodatus II 

. . Rome 


Donus I 

. . Rome 

676— 678 

St. Agathon 

. .Greece 

678— 682 


474 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


82 St. Leo II 


682— 683 

83 St. Benedict II 


684— 685 

84 John V 


685— 686 

85 Conon 


686— 687 

86 St. Sergius I 

• • (?) 

687— 701 

87 JohnYI 


701— 705 

88 John VII 


705— 707 

89 , Sisinnius 


708— 708 

90 Constantine 



91 St. Gregory II 


715— 731 

92 St. Gregory III 



93 St. Zachary 


741— 752 

94 St. Stephen II 



95 Stephen III 



96 St. Paul I 



97 Stephen IV 


05 

00 

1 

•<r 

98 Adrian I 



99 St. Leo III 


795— 816 

100 Stephen V 



101 St. Paschal I 



102 Eugenius II 



103 Valentinus 



104 Gregory IV 



105 Sergius II 



106 St. Leo IV 



(Fabulous antipope Joan.) 



107 Benedict III 



108 St. Nicholas I, the Great. . 

. . Rome 


109 Adrian II 



110 John VIII 



Ill Marinus I 



112 Adrian III 

. . Rome 


113 Stephen VI 



114 Formosus 




(Sergius, antipope.) 


APPENDIX a 475 


115 Boniface VI 


896— 896 

116 Stephen YII 


897— 89a 

117 Romanus 


898— 898 

118 Theodorus II 


898— 898 

119 John IX 


898— 900 

120 Benedict IV. 


900— 903 

121 Leo V 


903— 903 

122 Christopher 


903— 904 

123 Sergius III 


904— 911 

124 Anastasius III 


911— 913 

125 Lando 


913— 914 

126 John X 


915— 928 

127 Leo VI 


928— 920 

128 Stephen VIII 


929— 931 

129 John XI 


931— 938 

130 Leo VII 


936— 939 

131 Stephen IX 


939— 942 

132 Marinus II 


943— 946 

133 Agapetus II 


946— 956 

134 John XIL* 

(Leo VIIL, antipope.) 

(Octavian Conti.) 

956— 964 

135 Benedict V 


964— 965 

136 John XIII 

[Bishop John of Ravenna.] 

965— 972 

137 Benedict VI 


972— 973 

138 Bonus II 


973— 975 

139 Benedict VII 

(Conti, bishop of Sutri.) 

975— 984 

140 John XrV 

(Peter, bishop of Pavia.) 

984— 985 

141 Boniface VII 

(?) 

(Cardinal Boniface Franco.) 

985— 985 


*Tbe first Pope who changed his name on ascending the Papal throne. 


476 the 

HOMAN PAPACY. 


142 John XY 

Rome 

985— 996 



. 996— 996 

144 Gregory Y. 


996— 999 

145 John XYII 

(?)••• 

999— 999 

146 Sylvester II 

France 

, 999—1003 

(Gerbert.) 


^r^hn TVTTT 

Rome 

1003—1003 


Rome 

1003—1009 

149 Sergius lY 


1009—1012 

150 Benedict YIII 


1012—1024 


(Conti.) 


151 John XX 


, 1024—1033 


(Conti, a brother of the preceding.) 

152 Benedict IX 


1033—1044 


(Theophylact, nephew of the two 


preceding.) 


(Sylvester, antipope) 



153 Gregory YI 


1044—1046 


(Archpriest John Gratianus.) 

154 Clement II 


1046—1047 


(Bishop Suidger of Bamberg.) 

155 Damasus 11 


1048 — 1048 


(Bishop Pappo of Brixen.) 


156 St* Leo IX. •*•..*•. 


1049—1055 


(Bishop Bruno of Toul.) 


157 Yictorll 


1055—1057 


(Bishop Gebhard of Eichstadt.) 

168 Stephen X 


1057—1058 


(Abbot Frederick of Montecassino.) 

159 Benedict X 

(?) 

.1058—1059 


(John Mincius Conti, bishop of Yelletri.) 

160 Nicholas II 


1059—1061 


(Bishop Gerard of Florence.) 

161 Alexander II Milan 1061 — 1073 

(Anselm Badago, bishop of Lucca.) 


APPENDIX C. 


47T 


162 St. Gregory VII .Soana 1073 — 1085^ 

(Cardinal Hildebrand.) 

(Clement III., antipope.) 

163 Victor III Benevent 1087 — 1087 

(Desiderius, duke of Capua, abbot of 
Montecassino.) 

164 Urban n France 1088 — 1090 

(Otto de Lagers,cardinal-bishop of Ostia.) 

165 Paschal II Bieda 1099— 111& 

(Cardinal Rainer.) 

(Albert and Theodoric, antipopes.) 

166 Gelasius II Gaeta 1118 — 1119 

(Cardinal Johannes Cajetani.) 

167 CalixtusIL France 1119 — 1124 

(Guido, count of Burgundy, archbishop 
of Vienne.) 

168 HonoriusII Bologna 1124—1130 

(Lambert, cardinal-bishop of Ostia.) 

169 Innocent II Rome 1130 — 1143 

(Cardinal Gregory Papy.) 

(Anacletus, antipope.) 


170 Celestine II 

Citta di Castello .... 

1143—1144 

171 Lucius II 

Bologna 

(Caccianemici.) 

1144—1145 

172 B. Eugenius III. 

Montemagno 

1145—1153 


(Bernardus, abbot at Rome.) 

173 Anastasius IV.. 

Rome 

1153—1154 

174 Adrian IV 

England 

1154— 1159' 

175 Alexander HI. . . 

(Roland Bandinelli.) 

1159—1181 

(Victor, Paschal, 

and Callixtus, antipopes.) 


176 Lucius III 


1181—1185 

177 Urban III 

Milan 

(Bishop Humbert of Milan.) 

1185—1187 

Its Gregory VIII. . , 

. . , Beneventum 

1187—1187 


478 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


179 Clement III Rome... 1187—1191 

180 Celes tine III Rome 1191 — 1198 

181 Innocent III Anagni 1198 — 1216 

(Cardinal Conti.) 

182 Honorius III Rome 1216 — 1227 

(Savelli.) 

183 Gregory IX Anagni 1227 — 1241 

(Conti.) 

184 Celestine IV Milan 1241 — 1241 

(Castiglione.) 

185 Innocent IV Genoa 1243 — 1254 

(Fieschi.) 

186 Alexander IV .Anagni 1254 — 1261 

(Conti.) 

187 Urban IV France 1261 — 1264 

(Jacob Pantalean, patriarch of Jerusa- 
lem.) 

188 Clement IV France 1266 — 1269 

(Guido Fulcodi.) 

189 B. Gregory X Piacenza 1271 — 1276 

(Theobald Visconti, archdeacon at Liege.) 

190 Innocent V Savoy 1276 — 1276 

(Peter de Tarantaise.) 

191 Adrian V Genoa 1276 — 1276 

(Fieschi.) 

192 John XXI Portugal 1276 — 1277 

(Peter Julian, bishop of Tusculum.) 

193 Nicholas III Rome 1277 — 1280 

(Cardinal John Cajetan Orfini.) 

194 Martin IV France 1281 — 1285 

(Simon de Brie.) 

195 Honorius IV Rome 1285 — 1287 

(Savelli.) 

196 Nicholas IV Ascoli 1288 — 1292 

(Cardinal J erome, bishop of Tusculum.) 


APPENDIX a 


479 


197 St. Celestine V Isernia 1294 — 1294 

(Peter, an eremite.) 

198 Boniface VIII Anagni 1294 — 1303 

(Benedict Cajetan.) 

199 B. Benedict XI Trevisco 1303 — 1304 

(Boccasini.) 

200 Clement V France 1305 — 1314 

(De Gout, archbishop of Bordeaux.) 

201 John XXII France loio J334 

(Cardinal Jacob de Esne.) 

(Nicholas, antipope.) 

202 Benedict II X France. 1334 — 1342 

(Cardinal Jacob Fournier.) 

203 Clement VI France 1342 — 1352 

(Cardinal Peter Roger.) 

204 Innocent VI France 1352 — 1362 

(Cardinal Stephen Aubert.) 

205 B. Urban V France 1362 — 1370 

(Abbot at Marseilles.) 

206 Gregory XI France 1370 — 1378 

(Cardinal Peter Roger.) 

207 Urban VI Naples 1378 — 1389 

(Prignano, archbishop of Bari.) 

(From 1378 to 1410 occurs the great Western Schism, dur- 
ing which, in conflict with the line of Popes inserted in the 
catalogue, is found a rival line residing at Avignon — Clem- 
ent VII., 1378-1394 ; Benedict XIII., 1394-1410. The Council 
of Pisa, 1410, deposed both rival popes ; but Benedict XIIL 
remained in schism till his death in 1424.) 

208 Boniface IX Naples 1389 — 1404 

209 Innocent VII Sulmona 1404 — 1406 

(Migliorati.) 

210 Gregory XII Venice 1406 — 1409 

(Coriario.) 


480 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


211 Alexander V. . . . 

212 John XXIII 

213 Martin V. ...... 

214 EugeniusIV 

(Felix, antipope.) 

215 Nicholas V 

216 Calixtus III 

217 Pius II 

218 Paul II 

219 Sixtus IV 

220 Innocent VIII 

221 Alexander VI. 

222 Pius III 

223 Julius II 

224 LeoX 

225 Adrian VI 

226 Clement VII .... 

227 Paul III 


Bologna 1409 — 1410 

(Cardinal Peter Philargi.) 

Naples 1410—1415 

(Cardinal Cossa.) 

Rome 1417—1431 

(Cardinal Otto Colonna.) 

Venice 1431 — 1447 

(Condulmero.) 

Sarzana 1447 — 1455 

(Thomas de Sarzano.) 

Spain 1455—1458 

(Cardinal Alphons Borgia.) 

Siena 1458—1464 

(yEneas Sylvius Piccolomini.) 

Venice 1464 — 1471 

(Barbo.) 

Savona 1471 — 1484 

(Cardinal Francesco della Rovere.) 

Genoa 1484—1492 

(Cardinal John Baptist Cibo.) 

Spain 1492—1503 

(Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia.) 

..Siena 1503 — 1503 

(Cardinal Francis Piccolomini.) 

Savona 1 503 — 15 1 3 

(Cardinal Rovere.) 

Florence 151 3 — 1 521 

(Cardinal de Medici.) 

Netherlands 1522 — 1523 

(Adrian Florent.) 

Florence 1523 — 1534 

(Cardinal de Medici.) 

Rome 1534—1549 

(Cardinal Alexander Farnese.) 


APPENDIX C. 


481 


\ 


228 Julius III Tuscany 1550— 155& 

(Cardinal del Monte.) 

229 Marcellus II Montepulciano 1555—1555 

(Cardinal Cervino.) 

. 230 Paul IV Naples 1555 — 1559- 

(Cardinal Caraffa.) 


231 

Pius lY 


,1559—1565 



(Cardinal de Medici.) 


232 

St. Pius Y. 


1566—1572 



(Michael Ghisleri, Cardinal of Alessan- 



dria.) 


233 

Gregory XIII 


1572—1585 



(Cardinal Hugo Buoncompagno.) 

234 Sixtus Y 


1585—1590 



(Felix Peretti, Cardinal Montalto.) 

235 

Urban YII 


,1590—1590 



(Cardinal Castagna.) 


236 

Gregory XI Y. . . . 


1590—1591 


(Cardinal Sfondrati.) 


237 

Innocent IX 


1591—1592 



(Cardinal Fachinetti.) 


238 

Clement YIII. . . . 


1592—1605 



(Cardinal Aldobrandini.) 


239 

Leo XI 


1605—1605 



(Cardinal Octavian de’ Medici.) 

240 

Paul Y 


1605—1621 



(Cardinal Camillo Borghese. 

) 

241 

Gregory XY 

Bologna. 

1621—1623 



(Cardinal Alexander Ludovisio.) 

242 

Urban VIII..... 


1623—1644 



(Cardinal Maffeo Barberini.) 


243 

Innocent X 


1644—1655 



^ (Cardinal John Pamfili.) 


244 

Alexander YII. . . 

Siena 

1655—1657 



(Carninal Fabio Chigi.) 


245 

Clement IX 


1667—1669 


(Cardinal Rospigliosi.) 


482 

246 

247 

248 

249 

250 

251 

252 

253 

254 

255 

256 

257 

258 

259 

260 

261 

262 

263 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


Clement X 

(Cardinal Altieri.) 

.1670—1676 

Innocent XI 


.1676—1689 


(Cardinal Benedict Odescalchi.) 

Alexander YIII. . , 

(Cardinal Peter Ottoboni.) 

.1689—1691 

Innocent XII 


.1691—1700 


(Cardinal Anthony Pignatelli.) 

Clement XI 

(Cardinal Albani.) 

.1700—1721 

Innocent XIII. . . . 

(Cardinal Conti.) 

,1721—1724 

Benedict XIII . . . , 

(Cardinal Orsini.) 

.1724—1730 

Clement XII 


.1730—1740 


(Cardinal Corsini.) 

i 

Benedict XIV . . , , 


.1740—1758 


(Cardinal Prosper Lambertini.) 

Clement XIII 


.1758—1769 


(Cardinal Rezzonico.) 


Clement XIY 

(Cardinal Ganganelli.) 

.1769—1774 

Pius YI 

(Cardinal Braschi.) 

.1775—1799 

Pius YII 

(Cardinal Chiaramonte.) 

.1800—1823 

Leo XII 

(Cardinal della Genga.) 

.1823—1829 

Pius Yin 


.1829—1830 

. 

(Cardinal Castiglione.) 


Gregory XYI 

(Cardinal Mauro Capellari.) 

.1831—1846 

Pius IX 

(Cardinal Mastia Ferretti.) 

.1846—1878 

Leo XIII 


.1878— 


(Cardinal Gioacchino Pesci.) 


■'i 


APPENDIX D. 


THE CREED OF THE PAPACY. 

Adopted by Pius lY., and published in 1564, (found in 
the Prof essio Pidei) is in accord with the decision of the 
Council of Trent. It is in the form of an oath, and every 
Roman Catholic is bound by it, and Roman ecclesiastics 
swear by it. 

“ I most firmly admit and embrace the apostolical and 
ecclesiastical traditions, and all other constitutions and 
observances of the holy Church. I also admit the sacred 
Scriptures according to the sense which the holy mother 
Church has held and does hold, to whom it belongs to 
judge of the true sense and interpretation of the holy 
Scriptures ; nor will I ever take and interpret them other- 
wise than according to the unanimous consent of the fathers. 
I profess, also, that there are truly and properly seven sac- 
raments of the new law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, 
and for the salvation of mankind, though all are not neces- 
sary for every one — viz., baptism, confirmation, eucharist, 
penance, extreme unction, order and matrimony ; and that 
they confer grace ; and of these, baptism, confirmation and 
order cannot be reiterated without sacrilege. I also admit 
and receive the ceremonies of the Catholic Church, received 
and approved in the solemn administration of all the above 
said sacraments. I receive and embrace all and every one 

(483) 


484 


THE ROMAN RAPAGT, 


of the tilings which have been defined and declared in the 
holy Council of Trent concerning original sin and justifica- 
tion. I profess likewise, that in the mass is offered to God 
a true, proper and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and 
the dead ; and that in the most holy sacrament of the 
eucharist there is truly, really and substantially the body 
and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ; and that there is made a conversion of the 
whole substance of the bread into the body and of the wine 
into the blood, which conversion the Catholic Church 
calls transubstantiation. I confess, also, that under either 
kind alone, whole and entire, Christ and a true sacrament 
is received. I constantly hold that there is a purgatory, 
and that the souls detained therein are helped by the suf- 
frages of the faithful. Likewise that the saints reigning to- 
gether with Christ are to be honored and invocated, that 
they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to 
be venerated. I mostfirmly assert that the images of Christ 
and the mother of God, ever virgin, and also of the other 
saints, are to be held and retained, and that due honor and 
veneration are to be given to them. I also affirm that the 
power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church ; and 
that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people. 
I acknowledge the holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman 
Church, the mother and mistress of all churches ; and I 
promise to swear true obedience to the Roman bishop, the 
successor of St. Peter, prince of the apostles and vicar of 
Christ. I also profess and undoubtedly receive all other 
things delivered, defined and declared by the sacred can- 
ons and general councils, and particularly by the holy 
Council of Trent ; and likewise I also condemn, reject and 
anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies 
whatsoever, condemned and anathematized by the Church. 


APPENDIX D. 


485 


This true Catholic faith out of which none can be saved, 
which I now freely profess and truly hold, I, N , prom- 
ise, vow and swear most constantly to hold, and profess 
the same whole and entire, with God’s assistance, to the 
end of mv life. Amen.’ ’ 



APPENDIX E. 


PRINCIPAL ERRORS AND FRAUDS OF THE 
PAPAL CHURCH, AND THE TIME 
WHEN THEY WERE INTRO- 
DUCED. 

Invocation of the Saints ; first taught with authority by 
the second Council of Constantinople, 754. 

Introduction of Images and Relics; sanctioned and 
ordered by the second Council of Nice, 787. 

Compulsory Celibacy of the Clergy ; first enjoined by the 
I. Lateran Council, 1123. 

Transubstantiation ; formally decreed by the lY. Lateran 
Council, 1215. 

Papal Supremacy ; formally declared first by the lY. Lat- 
eran Council, 1215. 

Auricular Confession ; ordered first by Innocent III., at 
the lY. Lateran Council, 1215. 

Right of the Church to Depose Rulers ; first decreed by 
the lY. Lateran Council. 

Papal Jubilees ; witnessed by Boniface YIII. in 1300, and 
become a great source of profit and scandal to 
the Church. 


( 487 ) 


488 


THE ROMAN PAPACY, 


Purgatory and Indulgences ; first promulgated by Coun. 
cil of Florence, 1438. 

Communion of Bread 07ily ; first decreed by Council of 
Constance, 1414. 

Tradition ; declared by the Council of Trent (April 8th, 
1546) of equal authority and veneration with 
Scripture. 

Judicial Absolution ; authorized by Trent in 1554. 

Tlie Seven Sacraments ; first promulgated with authority 
by the Council of Trent in 1546. 

Infallibility of the Pope ; established after a long quarrel 
and the almost complete disruption of the con- 
clave, by the Vatican Council held at Kome 
1870. 


APPENDIX F. 


EOMAlSr CATHOLIC POPULATION IN THE UNITED 
STATES. COMPARISON WITH THE' TOTAL 
POPULATION. 


YEAR. 

ROMAN CATHOLIC 
POPULATION. 

TOTAL POP. 

ROMAN OATH. PER CENT. 

OF GENERAL POP. 

1Y76 . . 

. . . 25,000 

3,000,000 

8 

to the 

1,000 

1790 . . 

. . .. 30,000 

3,800,000 

9 

u 

(C 

({ 

1800 . . 

. . 100,000 

5,300,000 

18 

(( 

{( 

<< 

1810 . . 

. . . 150,000 

7,200,000 

20 

(( 

(( 

t( 

1820 . . 

. . 300,000 

9,600,000 

31 

(( 

(C 

u 

1830 . . 

. . . 600,000 

13,000,000 

42 

it 

(( 

(( 

1840 . . 

. . 1,500,000 

17,000,000 

90 

(C 

i( 

(( 

1850 . . 

. . . 3,000,000 

23,000,000 

142 

(( 

u 

(C 

1860 . . 

. . 4,500,000 

31,500,000 

142 

(( 

iC 

a 

1876 . . 

. . . 6,500,000 

40,000,000 

166 

(( 

(( 

u 

1890 . . 

. . 8,000,000 

62,600,000 

135 

(( 

(( 

(C 


This table exhibits a remarkable and almost uninterrupt- 
ed growth of the Roman Catholic population. But it is 
again almost exclusively resulting from immigration. The 
Church has made a lamentable failure in holding the youth 
of American-born Catholic parents. The actual loss of the 
Church has often created consternation among their own 
writers. As early as 1836, Bishop England of Charleston, 
said : ‘‘We ought, if there were no loss, to have five mil- 
lions of Catholics ; and as we have less than one million and 
one-fourth, there must be a loss of three million and a quar- 
ter, at least. We may unhesitatingly assert, that within the 
last fifty years the Catholic Church has lost millions of mem- 
bers in the United States.” 


( 489 ) 


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APPENDIX a 

VOTING POPULATION IN LARGE CITIES. 


Population of males in the fifty principal cities in the 
United States, constituting the present or future voting pop- 
ulation, and given according to native parentage, foreign- 
born parentage, and foreign-born : 


CITIES. 

MALES HAV- 
ING NATIVE 
PARENTAGE. 

MALES HAV- 
ING FOREIGN 

parentage. 

FOREIGN 

BORN 

MALES. 

New York 

134,457 

285,992 

314,481 

Chicago 

118,230 

204,147 

237,523 

Philadelphia 

202,046 

158,355 

131,761 

Brooklyn 

108,101 

152,191 

128,672 

St. Louis 

60,096 

93,185 

61,586 

Boston 

67,447 

72,889 

72,792 

Baltimore 

89,191 

54,310 

33,448 

San Francisco .... 

33,413 

53,189 

57,687 

Cincinnati 

39,915 

63,833 

35,504 

Cleveland 

30,621 

49,225 

51,040 

Buffalo 

29,209 

52,218 

45,839 

New Orleans .... 

33,207 

34,850 

16,474 

Pittsburgh 

35,553 

44,206 

39,978 

Washington .... 

52,354 

13,719 

9,680 

Detroit 

21,444 

38,192 

39,951 

Milwaukee .... 

13,325 

46,263 

40,906 

Newark 

27,054 

32,253 

27,667 

Minneapolis .... 

28,613 

23,985 

34,222 

^ Jersey City 

20,967 

32,635 

27,290 

* Louisville .... 

31,066 

22,208 

11,990 


( 491 ) 


492 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


VOTING POPULATION OF LARGE CITIES — CONTINUED. 


CITIES. 

MALES HAV- 
ING NATIVE 
PARENTAGE. 

MALES HAV- 
ING FOREIGN 
PARENTAGE. 

FOREIGN 

BORN 

MALES. 

Omaha 

40,360 

16,922 

20,042 

Rochester 

19,454 

25,419 

19,312 

St. Paul 

16,412 

23,172 

29,085 

Kansas City .... 

39,298 

12,816 

11,934 

Providence 

23,328 

19,226 

19,097 

Denver 

31,394 

12,391 

14,299 

Indianapolis 

28,146 

12,002 

7,555 

Allegheny .... 

18,872 

18,972 

13,463 

Albany 

16,291 

10,372 

18,268 

Columbus 

24,057 

11,335 

6,623 

Syracuse 

16,528 

14,931 

11,027 

W orcester .... 

15,121 

13,480 

13,180 

Toledo 

14,047 

14,826 

11,458 

Richmond 

19,294 

2,868 

1,883 

New Haven 

15,452 

13,028 

15,311 

Lowell 

9,713 

10,469 

15,098 

Nashville 

18,440 

3,030 

2,028 

Scranton 

9,199 

15,397 

13,663 

Fall River 

5,895 

11,875 

17,855 . 

Cambridge 

11,097 

10,986 

11,161 

Atlanta 

16,367 

1,469 

1,115 

Memphis 

12,004 

3,808 

3,313 

Wilmington 

16,437 

5,904 

4,738 

Dayton 

16,052 

8,376 

4,960 

Troy 

8,718 

11,651 

7,990 

Grand Rapids .... 

10,698 

9,038 

10,025 

Reading 

22,924 

3,256 

2,737 

Camden 

17,141 

5,303 

3,795 

Trenton 

13,159 

7,609 

7,390 

Total 

1,607,987 

1,856,875 

1,723,946 


This is according to the census of 1890. Within fifteen 
years these will wholly belong to the voting population, by 
which time fully one-third of the entire voting population 
of the country will be in these fifty cities, and more than 
two-third of this will be foreign-born and of foreign parent- 
age. 


APPENDIX H. 


The following table shows the number of Churches in the 
United States to day, as compared with forty years ago : 


DENOMINATIONS. 

1850. 

1890. 

Lutheran 

1,221 

6,559 

Roman Catholic 

1,227 

8,756 

Episcopal 

1,461 

5,605 

Congregational 

1,706 

4,736 

Presbyterian 

4,836 

12,463 

Baptist 

9,360 

39,412 

Methodist . 

13,338 

44,244 

All others 

5,007 

20,471 


According to the return of the eleventh census, the value 
of Church property for three periods is as follows : 


DENOMINATIONS. 

1850. 

1890. 

Lutherans 

1 2,85 4,286 

$ 34,218,234 

Congregational 

7,970,195 

43,335,437 

Roman Catholic 

9,256,758 

118,381,546 

Baptist 

11,001,127 

68,028,526 

Episcopal 

11,384,210 

73,586,201 

Presbyterian 

14,557,089 

94,876,233 

IVfethodist . 

14,826,148 

130,018,070 

All others 

15,596,558 

68,777,086 


The Roman Church has advanced from an ownership of 
ten and one-half per cent, of all the Church property, to an 
ownership of eighteen and three-fourths per cent. But 
it is to be remembered that this estimate does not include 

( 493 ) 


494 


THE ROMAN PAPACY. 


such classes of property as parochial schools and residences, 
convents and monasteries, and business blocks owned by 
bishops in trust for the Pope. For instance, the census 
reports Roman Catholic Church values in District of Colum- 
bia, as $1,017,000. An actual valuation makes the entire 
holdings of this Church in the District as $12,500,000. In 
l^ew York it is over $50,000,000. 


APPENDIX L 


WHO DID THE DESEKTING IN THE LATE WAR? 


(Reported by the daily papers.) 

Whole number of troops who fought in the war 2,128,200 

Natives of the United States 1,625,267 

Germans 186,817 

Irishmen 144,221 

British other than Irish 99,040 

Other foreigners 48,410 

The desertions were as follows : 


Natives of the United States 5 per cent. 

Germans 16 ‘‘ 

Irish Catholics, 72 “ “ 

British (other than Irish) 7 ‘‘ “ 

Other foreigners 7 “ 


According to the census of 1860, there were in the United 
States of foreign birth : 


Germans 1,301,136 

Irish 1,611,304 

British (other than Irish) 834,943 


Therefore, of the total in the country, fourteen per cent, 
of the Germans enlisted, twelve per cent, of the British, and 
only nine per cent, of the Irish. While of 144,000 Irishmen 
that enlisted, 104,000 deserted, their desertions mostly oc- 
curring after the letters of the Pope to the bishops of New 
Nork and New Orleans. Only five per cent, of the native 
soldiery deserted, but almost one-half, or forty-five per cent, 
of these were Koman Catholics. This table appeared in 
such papers as the New York Worlds an Irish and Roman 
sheet. 


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INDEX 


PAGE. 

Agricola, Rudolph, a mighty preacher 324 

Albert, Archbishop, extravagance of his court 184 

‘‘contracts for the sins of Germany” 185 

Alexander I., becomes Pope through bribery 129 

YL, a father 435 

Alva, agrees to the murder of Elizabeth 350 

brutality of 357 

Catherine de Medicis hatching massacre St. Bar- 

[tholomew 274 

and his “Court of Blood” 339 

in plot against Scotland 388- 

Bancroft, his opinion of Calvin 315 

Batavian race, character of - 323 

Bayonne, the secret conference at 274 

conference of — 424 

Benedict XIY., grants indulgence license to the Knights of 

[Malta 191 

Beza, Theodore 250 ; 257 

his opinion of Calvin 315 

Bible, the cost of in 14th century 326 

Decrees of councils and Popes against 76; 77; 79 

ignorance of 239 

influence of, in Bohemia 119 


( 497 ) 


498 


INDEX. 


influence of on English civilization YO 

mightier than the scepter 373 

people burned for reading it 339 

prior to the age of j^rinting 67 

the Pope’s decision against 18 

the Popes opposed to its translation into the language 

[of the people 161 

Walden sian devotion to 34 

Waldo’s translation of 17 

Bishops, as feudal lords 235 

serious charge against, by Roman Catholic authorities 239 

Black Book,” the celebrated 340 

Blandiana, martyrdom of..' 9 

Bohemia, description of 85 

Effects of the death of Huss and Jerome on 112 

hatred of the Popes for 115 

introduction of Christianity into 93 

Papal army in 113 

Waldensian leaven in, 38 

Boniface VIIL, ambition of 301 

Borgia, a great Papal family 435 

Bosauquet, Mary, an extraordinary woman 446 

Briconet, frightened back into the Papal fold 245 

Brognier, Bishop, Pres. Council of Constance 109 

Calvin, John, birth and childhood 308 

magnitude of his work 311 

Calixtus III 435 

Canon Law, against the interests of women 444 

stipulating fines for keeping concubines 434 

Carlotta, victim of the Pope 443 

Carlyle, Thomas 212 

his opinion of Knox 367 

Charles, the Emperor 106 


INDEX. 


Am 


Charles V., supporting the Inquisition 332 

cruel edicts of 334 

motive for his interest in William of Orange 342 

Charles IX 245; 250; 276 

confesses his responsibility for the massacre of St. 

[Bartholomew 284 

dismal death of 286 

in the room of the wounded Admiral 277 

in the plot against Scotland 288 

Church and State in America 245 

Claudius, noted Christian reformer 11 

Clemanges, his opinion of his church 103 

Clement VIII., during his reign England became Protestant. . 269 

Coligny, Admiral, Catherine’s interview with 253 

character of 275 

failure of the scheme to wed him to Mary Stuart. ... 27o 

murder of 277 

Conde, scheme to wed to Mary Stuart 270 

murder of 272 

Concubines, authorized by the Church 434 

Confiscation of property, by the Papal Church in the Pied- 

[mont 24 

Constance, Council of 103-105 

“ ‘‘ deposed two Popes 105 

‘‘ size of 104 

Constantine, his relation to the rise of the Papacy 13 

Council, the great Lateran, approves the Inquisition 23 

Council of Pisa 92 

Council of Toulouse, decree of against the Bible 76 

dealing with the Jesuits 243 

on Indulgences 196 

Cromwell, his message to Italy 33 


Darnley, Lord 423 

blown up with gun-powder 396; 424 


I 


500 INDEX. 

D’Aubigne, his picture of the Papacy 130 

his portrayal of an Indulgence sale 173 

Da Roma, his method of persecuting 247 

Davy, Sir Humphrey 73 

de Bounechose, his description of the burning of Huss 107 

de Medicis, Catherine, engaged with the Pope for overthrow 

[of the Protestants in England 268- 

most infamous woman of history 269; 274 

forms a league with the Pope for destruction of the 

[Huguenots 271 

with Alva, hatching the massacre of St. Bartholo- 

[mew 274 

enjoys the massacre 281 

last desperate game of 27 S 

a mystery of history. 438 

Lorenzo 238 

de Molay, 301 

treachery against 308 

burned to death 305 

Den’s theology 434 

Disestablishment of the Church, begun by Wyclif 63 

Dominicans, the special supporters of the Indulgences 192 

Dominican Inquisition, origin of 10 

under patronage of the Popes 20 

supported by the great Lateran Council 23 

Don John, conspiracy wdth the Pope. 420 

Dorner, his opinion of Calvin 314 

Dutch Corsairs, the exploits of 351 

Eck 147 

Edward HI., in conflict with the Pope 62 

Edict of Nantes, enactment of the. 292 

England, growing power of the Papacy in 117 

first translation of the Scriptures in 43 


INDEX. 501 

Papal issues in the parliament of 61 

surrenders to the Pope 48 

Erasmus, his opinion of Ghent 329 

Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III 442 

Farel 240 

Fenelon, reporting to Queen Elizabeth the massacre of St. 

[Bartholomew 289 

Feudalism in France 235 

France, breaking up of the feudal system in 235 

civilization has traveled beyond 234 

her great opportunity lost 233 

Francis!., 245; 250; 267 

confesses his iniquity 237 

his interview with the Pope 251 

replies to Piedmont’s plea for tolerance 22 

witnessing the tortures of the Protestants 310 

Francis II., 245; 250; 270 

Fronde, researches in the archives of Spain 429 

Geneva, great schools and libraries of 313 

Gerard, Belthaser, assassinates William of Orange 360 

Gerson, Chancellor 104 

Goethe 912 

Gregory I., 14 

Gregory IX., 19 

exacting money from England 47 

upholds the Inquisition 20 

Gregory XVI., decree of, against the Bible 77 

Guise-Lorraine family 374 

Mary of, cunning scheme of ’. 387 

Gury, a Jesuit authority. 434 

Hay, a Jesuit spy 425 


r;02 INDEX. 

Henry IL, 245; 250; 252 

confiding his plot to William of Orange 343 

his bastard son in charge of murder of Admiral 

[Coligny 280 

Henry IV., his famous conflict with the Pope 130 

Henry YHI 374 

Heresy, how it was proven 25 

Hottinger, Nicholas 229 

Huguenots, the justice of their cause 256 

enticed to Paris 276 

after the massacre 291 

deprived of all liberty 294 

why they were slain 286 

under Henry lY 292 

in the United States 295 

Huss, as a preacher 98 

driven from Prague 101 

excommunicated 102 

his patriotism 98 

his martyrdom 107 

sentence against 106 

under safe conduct of the Emperor 105 

Illiteracy in Italy 319 

among Roman Catholics in America 319 

Indulgences in Germany ' 137 

origin of 167 

a money scheme 166; 168 

made an article of faith under Clement YII 169 

scale of prices of, from an old tax book 172 

shipload of 174 

Leo X. trades in 175 

Tetzel on I7a 

for money rather than charity 181 


INDEX. 


503 


relation of the Popes to 182 

carried on in this country 191 ; 195 

supported by present Pope 194 

supported by high theological authorities 197 

Zwingli’s great sermon against 219 

prices for in Holland 330 

Indulgence, agents of, their disreputable lives 178 

Innocent IIL, orders the persecution of the Waldenses 23 

upholds the Inquisition 20 

Innocent lY., upholds the Inquisition 20 

Innocent YIIL, accepts bribes from the Sultan of Turkey. ... 24 

adopts policy of extermination 23 

Inquisition, attempt to introduce in France 250 

introduction into Holland 330 

against the Moors 332 

supported by Canon Law 332 

progress in Holland 334 ; 335 

Invention of type 325 

Ireland, ceded to the Pope by her king 49 

early Christianity of 224 

Indulgences in 193 

failure of Catholic education in 318 

Ireland, Archbishop, his letter to the Pope 95 

his theory of public schools 96 

Isabella, a Papal zealot 437 

persecuting Jews and Protestants 438 

Italians, in the U. S 318 

James Y., allegiance of to the Pope 411 

second Papal marriage of 412 

under control of Catholic bishops 372 

Jerome of Prague 105 

burned to death Ill 


504 


INDEX. 


John XXIII. , character of 103 

excommunicates Huss 102 

his promise to Huss 105 

Julius II., buying mercenary troops 226 

Knights of Malta, selling indulgences 191 

Knights Templars, character of 299 

origin of 300 

strange charge against 302 

tortures of * 303 

suppressed by the Pope 305 

Knox, J ohn, a sermon of 391 

greatness of 381 

his charge against the Roman Church 382 

his charge against the Pope 325 

his tilt with the qneen 394 

Laclere, Jean, the wool-carder of Meaux 246 

Lasserre, suppression of his Bible 78 

LeFevre 240 

Leo VIII., patron of shrines 215 

Leo X., Austrian Emperor’s opinion of 127 

charactor of 168 

excommunicates Luther 140 

Germany becomes a Protestant nation under 269 

Leo X., iniquitous compact with Francis 1 237 

Leo XII., declares against the Bible 76 

Leo XIII., 120 

establishes shrines to the Virgin 217 

issuing Indulgences 198 

opposes the Bible 77 

Lorraine, Cardinal of 250 

forms a league against the Huguenots. 271 

plots with the Pope against England p68 

Lorraine, Mary of 251 


INDEX. 


505 


Louis XIV., his marriage and his court 293 

Louis XV 237 

Lucrezia, daughter of the Pope 435 

Luther assails Indulgences 138 

assails purgatory. 139 

boyhood of 134 

before the Pope’s legate 143 

Carlyle’s opinion of 132 

burned in effigy 148 

condemned by University of Paris 155 

decision against, at W orms 153 

declares the Pope is anti-Christ 150 

effect of Huss on 112 

excommunicated 140 

first sees a Bible 135 

his journey to Rome 136 

his patriotism 160 

his influence at Wittemberg 146 

no longer a Roman Catholic 156 

summoned to Rome :....... 141 

sublime courage of 162 

taken to Wartburg 154 

the Pope orders the execution of 146 

Warneo not to go to Worms 151 

Madame de Maintenon, befriends the Jesuits 294 

Margaret of Valois, her description of the massacre 282 

Margaret, Queen regent 336 

Maria Theresa, marriage of to Louis XIV 293 

Martianus, martyrdom of 8 

Martin V 127 

Mary Stuart, mistake of her marriage with Lord Darnley. . . . 423 

joins the agreement of Bayonne 424 

escapes from the castle of Lochleven 425 

secret correspondence of 427 


506 


INDEX. 


evil results of Papal training on 431 

most entertaining woman in Scotland 365 

her schooling in France 393 ; 415 

in English prison 399 

a visit to apartments of 414 

married to an imbecile prince 417 

Mary Tudor, representative Papal woman 439 

cruel persecutions of 440 

deserted by Philip II 337 

Maximillian, insurrection of in Mexico 443 

Matilda, champion of the Popes 436 

Melancthon 142 

Methodist itinerancy originates with Wyclif 66 

Mexico throwing off Papal yoke 117 

revolution in, a Papal plot 443 

shrines to Virgin Mary in 216 

Mill, John Stuart 213 

Milton 37 

Monasteries, character of 128 

degeneracy of 103 

destruction of in Scotland 391 

Monks, Dominicans and Franciscans 47 

holding property in England 69 

immorality of 378 

number of in Scotland 370 

origin of 12 

their chief saint 446 

Moravia, great in hymnology and missions 205 

Motley, the historian, describing a Papal massacre 357 

Muller, Max 24 

Napoleon 213 

a dispatch of from Moscow 32 

Navarre, Henry of, a plan to kidnap 272 ; 273 

arrangement for his wedding 276 


INDEX. 


507 " 


becomes Huguenot leader 291 

becomes king of France 291 

bis oath on the field of Jarnac 272 ^ 

overhears a Papal conference 274 - 

Nunneries, character of.. 126; 12& 

Paganism, contrasted with Papacy 2 

persecution of 5; 8 - 

Papal nuncio, kicks the English crown 50 

orders interdict on Prague 101 

smoking Protestants out of caverns 24 

Parsons, prominent Jesuit leader 429 

letter of, to king of Spain 430 

Patrarch 91 

Paul V., levies a tax on the clergy in Italy 114 

Persecution, against conscience and liberty 252 

in France 247 

in Piedmont 22; 

for selling books 249^ 

Philip IL, attempts to bribe William of Orange 344 

character of 335. 

hypocrisy of, in the Netherland 336 

in the plot against Scotland 388 

offers reward for the death of William 344 

receiving the news of St Bartholomew 288^ 

secular head ot the Catholic world 401 

urges the destruction of the Huguenots 2V2 

Piedmont, a hymn of 36. 

description of 6 

its church not attached to the diocese of Rome 10' 

its people never conquered by Rome 9 

purity of the faith of 10 ; 11 ; 16 

unjust Papal laws in 30' 

Pius II 146 


508 


INDEX, 


Pius IV 269 

receiving the news of St. Bartholomew 289 

threatens Charles with the loss of his kingdom 272 

Pius V., opposed to indulgences 192 

Pius YL, grants indulgence license to king of Naples 191 

Pius IX., authorizing indulgences 191 

encyclical against the Bible 77 

on the affairs of New Genada ; . i 120 

Plague of the ‘‘ black death ” i 46 

Polycarp, martyrdom of 8 

Printing, order of the Papal king against 246 

Purgatory, made a doctrine of the church ... 169 

origin of 169 

Queen Elizabeth, attempted assassination of 350 

receiving the report of the massacre of St. Bartholo- 

[mew from the French Ambassador 289 

Relics, worship of 238 

Richard II., marries a Bohemian princess 86 

Richter, Jean Paul 212 

Ridolfi, the conspiracy of 427 

Florentine conspirator 350 

Rizzio, a Jesuit spy 422 

instigates war 423 

Roman Catholic Church, excessive cruelty of 248 

how the leaders received news of St. Bartholomew. . 287 

hypocrisy of her promises 258 

members of, dependent on charity 190 

is responsible for mobs 200 

money power of 187; 237 

opens the war in France 257 

The many conspiracies of, in France 273 

wears a mask in the U. S 259 

Roman Catholic league, purpose of 395 


INDEX. 509 ^ 

Roman Catholic priesthood 377 

fined for keeping concubines 386 

Romanism, in conflict with civilization 2 

persecution of 5 ; 8 

Roman priests, profligacy of 89 

Rome, fall of 10 

early bishops of 14 

Ross, Bishop of, wages plot against Elizabeth 427 

Salust, testimony of, against Pagan Rome 444 

Satolli, decides ecclesiastical laws to be superior to civil 310 

Savonarola 127 

Sigismund, Emperor, his pledge to Huss 100 

Schiller, on the court of the Inquisition 330 • 

Scotland, small size of 367 

greatness of in civilization 368 

St. Bartholomew, arrangement of the plot 270 

how the news was received at the courts of 

[Europe 288; 289; 290> 

responsible causes of 243 

the massacre of 277 

the number massacred 284 

was the massacre premeditated? 274 

William of Orange hearing the news of 350 

St. Dominic, character of 17 

invents the Inquisition 19 

Stephenson, a high Jesuit authority 400 

important confessions of 407 ; 412 ; 419 

Switzerland, origin of liberties and intelligence in. 224 

Tetzel, deceit of ,1'^8 

teaching of, in the indulgences 176 

the trap he fell into 180 

Theodora, concubine of the Pope 435 

The Franco-Prussian war, caused by the Papal queen 442 


mo 


INDEX. 


'The Jesuits, advocate assassination 344 

testify to Catholic conspiracies 426 

their agreement to abide by the law 243 

their plan to overthrow the government of Eng- 

[land 430 

they secure the revocation of the edict of Nantes .... 293 

The Lombard league 16 ; 46 

The Magna Charta, origin of 51 

The Netherlands, freed from Papal rule 360 

wealth and prosperity of 327 

The Papacy, bitter persecutions of 21 

charge of, against Wyclif 445 

condemned by Roman Catholic authorities 13 

fighting the Bible translators 161 

growing power of, in England 117 

The Papacy, hypocrisy of 52 

in the 19th century 28 

influence of, on womanhood 433 ; 443 

Isaiah’s prophecy against 13 

its five reasons for hating Luther 159 

opposed to the Bible 75 

opposed to patriotism 161 

opposition to, in Mexico 117 

Pagan sources of 12 

policy of in America 260 

proscriptive laws of 30 

real beginning of 14 

rise of 5 

the cause of wars 157 

the temporal power of 14 

threat of in the U. S 116 

two headquarters of 45; 53 

unrelenting foe of intellectual and political free- 

[dom 230 


INDEX. 


511 


The Popes, bribing an army 243 

greed of 187; 236 

levy a tax on France 23 

levying a tax on French clergy 238 

not reformers 228 

opposed to civil and religious liberty 101 

order the confiscation of property, and holding of 

[slaves 246 

their course relative to sale of indulgences 182 

their hand in elections 149 

two females 14 

The Spanish Armada 401 

defeat of 404 

large equipment of 402 

supported by the Pope 404 

Torquemada, Dominican inquisitor 331 

Toulouse, synod of, against learning and science 18 

Virgin Mary, shrines of, a fraud 215 

shrines of, in the U. S 217 

Waldenses, character of 15; 20 

children of Providence 33 

famous covenant of 27 

great endurance of 31 

influence in England of 51 

moral table of 36 

most noted hero 32 

picture of in 16th century 35 

sent beyond the Alps 26 

teachers of Wyclif 38 

their devotion to the Bible — 34 

Waldensian refugees 38 

Waldo, Peter I'J' 


512 


INDEX. 


William of Orange, character of 341 

ground of his revolt against the Papacy 323 

hearing the news of St. Bartholomew 355 

great triumph of 358 

page at the German court 342 

the attempts to kill him 348 

the assassination of..: 360 

Women, Pagan teachers on 444 

Protestant type of 445 

AYorms, diet of 150 

condemns Luther 153 

Wyclif, birthplace of 59 

charge of the Papacy against 445 

his body ungraved Ill 

his influence in Bohemia 87 

his petition before parliament 62 

his writings interdicted in Prague 100 

Zwingli, a sermon talked about over Euroj^e 218 

against celibate priesthood 226 

birth and childhood of 210 

on Indulgences 219 

patriot and orator 214 

proven to be right 255 

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